UN weather agency says 2014 on track to be the hottest year on record

This year is on track to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, year on record, a U.N. weather agency on Wednesday rejected claims that global warming has paused.

The World Meteorological Organization said the global average temperature in January-October was 1.03 Fahrenheit above average, the same as in record hot year 2010.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the Convention, said: "Our climate is changing, and every year the risks of extreme weather events and impacts on humanity rise."

The WMO's provisional statement-to be finalised in March next year-on the Status of the Global Climate in 2014 shows that the global average air temperature over the land and sea surface from January to October was about 0.57°C above the average of 14°C for the 1961-1990 reference period, and 0.09°C above the average for 2004 to 2013.

The analysis said that if that trend holds in November and December, "then 2014 will likely be the hottest on record, ahead of 2010, 2005 and 1998."

"The provisional information for 2014 means that 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st century," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. "There is no standstill in global warming."

Jarraud said the provisional finding indicates "that 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have occurred in the 21st century."

While Jarraud said this year's extreme weather events "can't 100 percent be attributed to climate change," he called them "consistent with what we expect from climate change."

Most of the world experienced temperatures above average, with heat waves in South Africa, Australia and Argentina in January and in large parts of South America in October, according to the WMO assessment, which was based on two global data sets from the U.S. and one from Europe.

Ocean temperatures were particularly high in the northern hemisphere from June to October.

"Around 93 percent of the excess energy trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and other human activities ends up in the oceans. Therefore, the heat content of the oceans is key to understanding the climate system," the WMO said.