You may not believe it, but 2010 was the hottest year since records began in 1880

You may not believe it, but 2010 was the hottest year since records began in 1880 - After another washout summer and the Arctic conditions of last month you'd be forgiven for thinking 2010 was a touch colder than normal.

But last year was the joint warmest globally since records began in 1880, according to climate experts at Nasa.

Scientists at the U.S. space agency and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) agreed that the average worldwide temperature in 2010 was 1.12F (0.62C) above normal.

The measurement equals the record set in 2005.

Climate change? Last year equalled 2005 as the warmest globally since records began in 1880, scientists said

Most atmospheric scientists attribute the change to gases released into the air by industrial processes and gasoline-burning engines.

David Easterling, the chief of the scientific services division at the NCDC, said: 'These results show that the climate is continuing to show the influence of greenhouse gases. It's showing evidence of warming.'

Last year was also the wettest on record and a warmer atmosphere holds more water, which in general can result in more floods, he said.

The report did not predict weather in the future. But the U.N. climate science panel said weather is likely to be more extreme this century because of a build up of gases released by burning fossil fuels and forest destruction.

James Hansen, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said 'if the warming trend continues, as is expected, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long'.

His office also released a report on Wednesday that said 2010 was tied for the warmest year on record with 2005.

Jay Gulledge, the senior scientist at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said farmers and others can adjust to expected warmer temperatures, but preparing for extreme weather is harder.

He said: 'We've got really immense potential right now to have even bigger impacts from the direct effects of extreme events.'

As the weather warmed, the world did not do enough to prevent future climate change, scientists said.

At U.N. climate talks in Cancun late last year nearly 200 countries agreed to set a target of limiting a rise in average world temperatures to below 2C (3.6F) over pre-industrial times.

But promised emissions curbs by big polluters such as China and the U.S. are not enough to achieve that goal and tougher actions are needed, climate scientists said.

Sun worship: As the weather has warmed, the world did not do enough to prevent future climate change, scientists said

The UK Met Office's Hadley Centre and the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization are expected to issue reports on global 2010 temperatures later this month.

Many places, such as Russia and Pakistan, suffered from heat waves and floods that killed thousands, scorched crops and inundated countless farm acres.

Those events, caused in part by a shifted jet stream in the atmosphere, helped lead to record global food prices and threaten to lead to food riots like those seen in 2008.

It's not possible to directly link global warming as the cause of one weather event. But the trend of rising temperatures since 2000 increases the possibility of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and floods, Dr Easterling said.

Every year since 2000 has ranked as one of the 15 warmest years on record, he said. ( dailymail.co.uk )

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