Climate Matters•January 10, 2025
Off-the-Charts Heat: 2024 Global and U.S. Temperature Review
KEY CONCEPTS
It’s official: 2024 was the hottest year on record — both globally and for the U.S.
Average global temperatures in 2024 ranked highest in the 145-year record, 1.54°C (2.77°F) above the early industrial (1881-1910) baseline average.
2024 was the hottest year on record for nearly one-third (31% or 76) of 243 U.S. cities analyzed by Climate Central.
The U.S. experienced 27 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2024 — which are becoming more frequent and intense in response to human-caused warming.
Global analysis conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central found that climate change added on average 41 more days of dangerous heat in 2024 and contributed to the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of millions during extreme weather events last year.
This Climate Matters analysis was made possible by open access data from NOAA/NCEI and NASA.
Back-to-back record-breaking years for Earth
Global carbon emissions from burning coal, oil, and methane gas climbed to their highest levels ever in 2024. This heat-trapping pollution continued to steer Earth’s average temperature into unprecedented territory in 2024 — surpassing the record-breaking benchmark of hottest year on record in 2023.
According to the latest combined data from NOAA and NASA, the global surface temperature in 2024 ranked highest in the 145-year record at 1.54°C (2.77°F) above the early industrial (1881-1910) baseline average. The top eleven hottest years on record for the planet have occurred in the last eleven years, now including last year.
For the first time ever, the annual global average temperature anomaly exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels — the key long-term threshold set by the Paris Climate Accord in 2015. The limit set by the Paris Climate Accord, however, refers to a 30-year average of global temperatures, meaning that the occurrence of 1.5°C of warming for a single year does not equate to exceeding the Paris threshold.
Hottest year for the U.S. and record annual heat for U.S. cities
The contiguous U.S. had its hottest year on record in 2024 with an annual average temperature 3.5°F above the 20th century average.
The eight warmest years for the U.S. have all occurred since 2012.
While 2024 was the warmest year for the contiguous U.S. as a whole, it was also the hottest year on record for 76 (31%) of the 243 U.S. cities analyzed by Climate Central. Some of the cities that experienced a record-warm 2024 include: Atlanta, Ga.; Chicago, Ill.; Detroit, Mich.; Houston, Texas; Minneapolis, Minn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Raleigh, N.C.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Washington D.C.
For a vast majority (75% or 180) of analyzed cities, 2024 ranked among their top five hottest years on record, including: Cincinnati, Ohio; Denver, Colo.; New York City, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Portland, Ore.; and St. Louis, Mo.
While 2024 saw a wide range of precipitation trends across 244 U.S. cities analyzed by Climate Central, the year deviated significantly from historical norms. More than half of the cities (121) experienced above-average precipitation, with a notable 9% of these locations receiving 'much above normal' (>125%) rainfall.
A costly year for U.S. billion-dollar disasters
The United States was impacted by 27 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2024, exacting an extraordinary human and economic toll.
These events included 17 severe storm events, five tropical cyclones, two winter storms, one wildfire event, one flood, and one drought. These disasters resulted in an estimated 568 deaths and $182.7 billion in damages.
The number of billion-dollar disasters in 2024, 2023 (28 events), 2022 (18 events), and 2021 (20 events) were all far above the long-term average of around nine billion-dollar disasters per year since 1980.
All five of the landfalling hurricanes that impacted the U.S. this year caused billions of dollars in damage — with rapidly-intensifying Hurricanes Milton and Helene causing a total of over $113 billion combined.
Hurricane Helene killed at least 219 people, the second-highest number of tropical cyclone-related fatalities in the continental U.S., only after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. However, this figure may not mark the end of the storm’s death toll. A recent study found that the average tropical cyclone generates up to 11,000 excess deaths for a period of 15 years following the event.
Extreme heat in 2024 driven by human-caused climate change
This year’s record-breaking warmth fueled unrelenting heat waves, drought, wildfires, severe storms, hurricanes, and floods that claimed the lives of thousands people worldwide and displaced millions from their homes.
Analysis conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central found that:
Globally, climate change added on average 41 more days of dangerous heat in 2024. This disproportionately impacted small island nations and developing countries, whose residents are most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change despite contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change was a significant contributor to nearly all of the 26 extreme weather events evaluated in 2024; collectively at least 3,700 people were killed and millions more were displaced by these events.
From the Himalayas to the Southern Appalachians, the past year witnessed a global surge in devastating floods. WWA analyzed 16 of these flood events and found that all but one were significantly intensified by climate change-amplified rainfall.
The lingering shadow of 2024’s carbon emissions
As we enter 2025, the repercussions of carbon pollution emitted worldwide will continue to reverberate. Carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, persists in the atmosphere for centuries, trapping heat and further intensifying climate warming. The emissions released last year, in combination with cumulative historical emissions, commit the planet to a future of more frequent and intense extreme weather events that will disproportionately burden younger generations.
However, we can still avoid the most catastrophic consequences by cutting carbon pollution now. Every tenth of a degree of climate warming averted contributes to a safer environment for the people and places we love — now and for generations to come.
We know the solutions — including transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, enhancing energy efficiency, and developing sustainable transportation systems — but their rapid and equitable implementation is critical.
“This is climate breakdown — in real time,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his New Year message. Echoing themes of the United Nations’ Emissions Gap Report 2024, Guterres added, "We must exit this road to ruin — and we have no time to lose. In 2025, countries must put the world on a safer path by dramatically slashing emissions, and supporting the transition to a renewable future.”
LOCAL STORY ANGLES
How is global climate change affecting daily local temperatures?
Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index map tool shows which parts of the world are experiencing temperatures boosted by human-caused climate change, every day.
The Climate Shift Index is now available in KML format. Fill out this form to receive the KML links and create custom maps.
Sign up here to receive custom email alerts when strong Climate Shift Index levels are detected in your local area.
What weather can we expect at the start of 2025?
NOAA’s one-month to three-month outlooks assess the probability of exceeding thresholds of above and below normal temperature and precipitation in the US. Access January 2025’s temperature, precipitation, and drought outlook for an indication of near-term conditions near you.
Reporting on extreme weather events and disasters near you:
For more information on billion-dollar disasters, check the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) site for summary statistics, interactive charts and maps of billion-dollar disasters since 1980, and descriptive information about each event.
Climate Central’s Extreme Weather Toolkits provide quick facts about the links between climate change and severe weather, heavy rainfall and flooding, wildfire, extreme heat, and more.
FIND EXPERTS
Submit a request to SciLine from the American Association for the Advancement of Science or to the Climate Data Concierge from Columbia University. These free services rapidly connect journalists to relevant scientific experts.
Browse maps of climate experts and services at regional NOAA, USDA, and Department of the Interior offices.
Explore databases such as 500 Women Scientists, BIPOC Climate and Energy Justice PhDs, and Diverse Sources to find and amplify diverse expert voices.
Reach out to your State Climate Office or the nearest Land-Grant University to connect with scientists, educators, and extension staff in your local area.
METHODOLOGY
Local average annual temperatures and total precipitation for 2024 were obtained from the Applied Climate Information System for 247 cities. Annual temperatures were ranked based on each station’s full period of record. Total precipitation is expressed as a percentage of each station’s respective 1991-2020 annual precipitation normal. Four locations were excluded from temperature rankings (Bend, Ore.; Clarksburg, W.Va.; Lafayette, Ind. and Twin Falls, Idaho), and three were excluded from precipitation rankings (Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Clarksburg, W.Va.; and Twin Falls, Idaho).
National average annual temperature rankings for the U.S. come from NOAA/NCEI Climate at a Glance. Global monthly temperature anomalies were obtained from NOAA and NASA. Climate Central combines the NOAA and NASA information to re-baseline global temperatures using an earlier pre-industrial baseline of 1881-1910, consistent with the Paris Agreement warming limits (1.5°C and 2°C) above pre-industrial levels.
All billion-dollar disaster cost estimates included in this Climate Matters are CPI-adjusted.
Important changes to our Climate Matters stations beginning January 1, 2025:
Due to various weather station closures, six cities will now receive data from different weather stations than those we’ve used in the past: Dothan, Ala.; Glendive, Mont.; Hagerstown, Md.; Hattiesburg, Miss.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Tyler, Texas.
We will no longer produce local graphics for Panama City, Fla.
We are now producing local graphics for Rochester, Minn.