Frankly, this article is written by someone who doesn't understand probability. What NASA, NOAA, JMA and the Hadley Center are saying is that 2014 had the highest probability of being the warmest year on record, compared to the other years. Every other year had a lower probability. The statistical difference is small and James Hansen et al. look at the GISS temperature data and say that there is a statistical tie between 2014, 2010 and 2005 (
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/.... However, Gavin Schmidt is not being dishonest about the numbers that GISS calculated. 2014 did have the highest probability and the mean surface temperature anomaly (compared to 1951-1980 average) for these years was:
2014: +0.675
2010: +0.661
2005: +0.651
2007: +0.619
1998: +0.607
Frankly, whether 2005, 2010 or 2014 was the warmest year doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the overall scheme of things since the important thing is the overall trend in the temperature, which is clear. Another thing to keep in mind is that we are arguing about the mean surface temperature, but the atmosphere absorbs 2%-3% of all the heat on the planet, whereas the ocean absorbs 93% and the cryosphere absorbs most of the rest. The Argo floats in the ocean show warming. The ice melting in the Arctic, Antarctic, Greenland and the mountain glaciers shows warming. The mean surface temperature shows warming. In other words, Marc Morano is making a mountain out of a mole hill and then using it to accuse climate scientists of being manipulative and dishonest. In reality the person who is being manipulative is Morano by trying to make people believe that global warming is not occurring and trying to ruin the professional reputations of the scientists at NASA and NOAA.