Earth 2014: Warmest six months and year on record?

Planet Earth is running a high grade fever in 2014.

NASA announced over the weekend that it recorded the warmest September on record globally (+0.77C) and that the past six months have been the warmest stretch on record globally since they began records in 1880.

Slate's Eric Holthaus has some insight on earth's record run that began in April.

The record-breaking burst of warmth was kicked off by an exceptionally warm April—the first month in at least 800,000 years that atmospheric carbon dioxide reached 400 parts per million. According to the National Climatic Data Center, which keeps a separate record of global temperatures, this April ranked as the warmest April on record. Followed by the warmest May on record. Followed by warmest June on record. (July wasn’t quite as hot—just the fourth-warmest July on record.) But August—again, you guessed it—was the warmest August on record. The NCDC will release its numbers for September later this month.

Minnesota and the nation: Cool year in a warm world Ironically, Minnesota and the eastern U.S. continue to be among the coolest spots on the globe relative to average this year. One look at global temp departures through August shows Minnesota at the epicenter of the coolest region on the planet relative to average through August of 2014.

A persistent northwest jet stream flow has the eastern half of the U.S. running a bit cool this year.

The polar vortex started the year off in frigid fashion in the eastern U.S., and a faint whisper of that cooler northwest flow kept summer temps in check. Alaska, California, northwest Canada, the North Pacific and Siberia have logged some of the warmest temps on record this year.

2014: Warmest year on record possible?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center will come out with its numbers for September later this week. So far through August, NOAA data shows 2014 is the third warmest year on record globally.

If global temperature departures remain where they are now, 2014 could challenge as the warmest year on record globally according to NOAA.

The first eight months of 2014 (January–August) were the third warmest such period on record across the world's land and ocean surfaces, with an average temperature that was 0.68°C (1.22°F) above the 20th century average of 57.3°F (14.0°C). If 2014 maintains this temperature departure from average for the remainder of the year, it will be the warmest year on record.

It now appears 2014 is a lock to be another top 5 warmest year on record, and there is a decent chance we may be living through the warmest year on record globally.

Stay tuned.