The data for October has just been added to the NOAA GISS instrument record, which runs from 1880 to the present.

October was the warmest on record, just beating out 2005.

Overall, it is looking increasingly likely that 2014 will tie or beat the record for warmest year in the instrumental record, in terms of surface temperature. This does not count the ocean warming which is substantial. But we tend to look at the surface record as an approximation of global warming.

Here’s the graph:

Just looking at the daily values (but from a different database) for November, this is turning out to be a pretty warm month as well, though here in Minnesota at the moment, it doesn’t feel like it.

Ironically, it was a large tropical storm slamming into the northern regions that ultimately pushed this cold air down over the US.

Keep in mind that there are numerous different data bases of surface temperatures, and they may not all show October as the warmest ever. Some may be lower than the GISS database, some may be higher. ADDED: Japan Meteorological Agency has also come out with October data. Look here.

The image at the top of the post is from Climate Reanalyzer, and shows the anomaly of temperature over part of the globe. Notice the blob of anomalously cold air over the US, causing Americans to stop “believing in” global warming.