May was especially hot in parts of Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Spain, South Korea, and Australia, while the United States was not close to a record, just 1 degree warmer than the 20th century average. However, California is having a record hot first five months of the year, a full 5 degrees above normal.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Monday said May’s average temperature on Earth of 59.93 degrees beat the record set four years ago. In April, the globe tied the 2010 record for that month. Records go back to 1880.

WASHINGTON — Driven by exceptionally warm ocean waters, Earth smashed a record for heat in May and is expected to keep on breaking high temperature marks, experts say.


Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb and other experts say there is a good chance global heat records will keep falling, especially next year because an El Nino weather event is brewing on top of man-made global warming. An El Nino is a warming of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that alters climate worldwide and usually spikes global temperatures.

Ocean temperatures in May also set a record for the month. But an El Nino isn’t considered in effect until the warm water changes the air and that hasn’t happened yet, NOAA said.

With the El Nino on top of higher temperatures from heat-trapping greenhouse gases, ‘‘we will see temperature records fall all over the world,’’ wrote Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann in an e-mail.

May was 1.33 degrees warmer than the 20th century world average. The last month cooler than normal was February 1985, marking 351 hotter-than-average months in a row.

The news on record temperatures comes as a group of prominent financial and political figures is calling for new government policies and business practices to ‘‘reduce the odds of catastrophic outcomes’’ linked to climate change.


The group, called the Risky Business Project, issued a report suggesting that the most severe risks could be avoided through early investments. Some members of the group are expected to meet with Obama administration members at the White House on Wednesday.

‘‘I know a lot about financial risks — in fact, I spent nearly my whole career managing risks and dealing with financial crisis,’’ former Treasury secretary Henry Paulson says in the report. ‘‘Today I see another type of crisis looming: a climate crisis. And while not financial in nature, it threatens our economy just the same.’’

In addition to Paulson, the 10-member group consists of former treasury secretary Robert Rubin, former secretary of state George Shultz, hedge fund manager turned climate activist Tom Steyer, Cargill executive chairman Gregory Page, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, former Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, and former dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Al Sommer.

In Dallas on Monday, a bipartisan group of mayors from across the country unanimously approved a resolution that calls on cities to use natural solutions to fight the effects of climate change.

Attendees of the US Conference of Mayors voted on the resolution, which encourages cities to use nature to ‘‘protect freshwater supplies, defend the nation’s coastlines, maintain a healthy tree and green space cover, and protect air quality,’’ sometimes by partnering with nonprofit organizations.


The resolution was backed by Democratic mayors from Republican-dominated states: Lee Leffingwell of Austin, Texas; Annise Parker of Houston; and Greg Stanton of Phoenix. It passed easily even though Republicans and Democrats remain deeply divided over how to deal with climate change.

Material from the Washington Post was used in this report.