State of the climate in 2025

The report provides a comprehensive, observation-based assessment of Earth’s climate system that not only documents what happened during a given year (e.g., 2025), but also how that year compares to previous years in the observational record. All global surface temperature datasets in this report indicate that 2025 was among the three warmest years in the instrumental record, which spans more than 175 years. Furthermore, the 11 warmest years on record all occurred in the past 11 years. The extreme warmth extended to the polar regions, with Antarctica experiencing its warmest year in the record that began in 1979, and the Arctic experiencing its second-warmest year since the start of its record in 1900. The Arctic continues to warm at a rate of roughly three times the global average. The warmth was also notable in the tropics where the combined land-ocean temperature was 0.27°C above the 1991–2020 average, making it the seventh-warmest year in the 176-year record. 

The report further shows that near-record global warmth of 2025 manifested differently in various regions around the world. Europe experienced its warmest year in the record dating as far back as 1900, with a mean temperature anomaly of +1.3°C, while North America experienced its third-warmest year in its 176-year record, with a mean temperature anomaly of +1.06°C relative to 1991–2020. Despite above-average precipitation over land areas globally, global cloud area fraction was the second lowest on record at 68.5%, and global average surface soil moisture reached its lowest value since 1991. Among other areas, drought conditions were notable across parts of Europe, the Danube basin, the Amazon, and portions of central Asia in 2025. The particularly hot and dry summer in southwest Europe contributed to unprecedented fire activity over the Iberian Peninsula, contributing to a record amount of fire emissions in Europe. The compilation of the State of the Climate is possible due to the dedication of the 626 authors and editors from 60 countries.