2015 likely to be warmest on record, 2011-2015 warmest 5-year period: WMO

than average. Areas to the south of Greenland and in the far southwest Atlantic were significantly colder than average.

Regional temperatures
Significant warmer than average temperatures were recorded over the majority of observed land areas, especially western North America, large areas of South America, Africa, and southern and eastern Eurasia. China had its warmest January-to-October period on record. For the continent of Africa, 2015 currently ranks as the second warmest year on record. Australia had its warmest October on record and a heatwave early in the month set new records for early season warmth.

One notably cold area was the Antarctic, where a strong anomaly in atmospheric patterns known as the Southern Annular Mode lasted for several months. Eastern areas of north America were colder than average during the year, but none were record cold. After a warm January to September, Argentina experienced its coldest October on record.

Heatwaves
A major heatwave affected India in May and June, with average maximum temperatures exceeded 42°C widely and 45°C in some areas. In southern Pakistan temperatures exceeded 40°C in June.

Heatwaves affected Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East through the late spring and summer, with many new temperature records set. In May, high temperatures affected Burkina Faso, Niger, and Morocco. Spain and Portugal also saw unusually high temperatures. July brought heat waves to a large area from Denmark in the north, to Morocco in the south and Iran in the east. In early August, Jordan experienced a heatwave, whilst Wroclaw (Poland) experienced an all-time high temperature of 38.9°C on 8 August. The heat continued into September, shifting further into Eastern Europe.

During the spring of 2015 in South Africa, record high temperatures were exceeded on a regular basis.

Rainfall and drought
Areas of high rainfall included: southern areas of the USA, Mexico, Bolivia, southern Brazil, southeast Europe, areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Heavy rain in January led to flooding in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and in February it affected Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. 2015 saw exceptional seasonal rainfall totals in several parts of Burkina Faso and Mali.

March in Chile saw unusually heavy rains which caused flooding and mudslides. In August, heavy rain in the Buenos Aires province of Argentina saw several monthly and daily rainfall records broken during the month. Mexico had its wettest March on record (since 1941). It was the wettest May on record for the contiguous USA and the wettest month overall in 121 years of record