World Had Second Warmest May as #2 Trend Continues; U.S. Had Second Warmest Spring On Record

For the umpteenth time in recent years, the world saw
red in May, 2025, indicating almost every place was
warmer than the 20th century average. It was the
2nd hottest May on record for the globe. 

Most of the climatologists had said that this year would not quite measure up to the worldwide heat of 2024. 

More data that came in this week indicate that so far, at least, that prediction is coming true, but 2025 is pretty damn close to being the hottest as climate change rages on.

The world had is second warmest May on record, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. That's been the trend the entire year so far. Most months have been second warmest, behind 2024.

It's pretty much a lock that 2025 will be yet another year that scores among the top five warmest the world has had, at least since reliable records began more than a century and a half ago,  Still, experts give 2025 only a 1 percent chance of being THE hottest on record.

We'd need some pretty off the chains heat for the rest of the year to see that.

May's second hottest ranking is concerning, of course. And of course meteorological spring, running from March 1 through May 31, was the world's second hottest on record.

Averaging out through the world, May's temperature was right around 2 degrees Fahrenheit, (1.1 degrees C) warmer than the 20th century average. 

The ten warmest Mays have all happened since 2014. If you are under the age of 49, you've never seem a global May that was even the slightest bit cooler than the 20th century average. 

In May, the hottest spots relative to average were the Arctic, British Isles, parts of the far northeastern Atlantic Ocean,  areas of the western Indian ocean and southwestern Pacific Ocean. 

As usual, relatively chilly spots were hard to find in May.  The coolest areas, relative to normal, were only near or just a little under the 20th century averages. These semi-cool spots including most of India, part of the northern Atlantic Ocean, Iceland, large sections of Greenland, the southeastern Pacific Ocean, parts of central and eastern Europe and eastern Antarctica.

A strange heat wave hit Iceland and Greenland in May. Temperatures reached as high as 80  degrees in Iceland during the May 15-21 heat wave, which is unprecedented for May and a national record high for the month of May.  So was the 58 degree reading at a weather station in Greenland on May 19.  

The heatwave also got Greenland's summer melt season off to an ominously early start. I don't know if the warm spells will keep hitting Greenland for the rest of the summer, but we should hope not.

Meteorological spring for Earth (March 1 to May 31) was also the second warmest on record, after 2024. 

Meanwhile, as I reported recently record and unprecedented heat waves have been hitting many parts of the world this month. We in Vermont got a nice taste of that Monday and Tuesday, didn't we? It's looking like June will be another top tier hot month around the world, too. 

UNITED STATES

May in the United States was overall the 25th warmest out of the past 131 years on the warm side across much of the United States. 

The West Coast and Southeast were warmest relative to average, Florida had its second warmest May on record. The only state that was fairly substantially on the chilly side was Oklahoma, which had its 36th coldest May out of the past 131 years. 

May was the nation's third wettest on record, powered largely by torrential downpours up and down the East Coast and in the Southeast. 

Alabama had its wettest May on record. Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont each had their second wettest May. Every state along the East Coast had one of their top 10 wettest Mays on record except Florida and Maine. And those two states were wetter had average.

The only relatively dry states were along the West Coast, and in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Meteorological spring, March 1 through May 31, was the second warmest on record for United States.