'Earth on track for hottest year'

The world is still heading for the hottest year on record although last month was only the seventh warmest November since 1880, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday.

The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces during November tied with 2008 as the seventh highest for the month, at 0.65 degrees Celcius above the 20th century average, the NOAA said in its monthly report, according to Xinhua.

This ends a streak of three consecutive months with a record warm monthly global temperature, but the average temperatures for September-November as well as the first 11 months were still both the highest on record for such periods, it said.

If December is at least 0.42 degrees Celcius warmer than the 20th century average, 2014 will be the hottest year on record, the NOAA said.

The previous three warmest years on record are 2010, 2005 and 1998.