A big freeze may be setting in part of the world, but that does not change the hot months that have already passed. A new report from Shore News Today states that NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center has found that 2014 is set to go down as an extremely warm year. How warm? Experts say it is currently set to be the warmest year ever recorded.

As of right now, 2014 is not set to be the hottest year on record. However, based on the recent trends this could change. If surface temperatures continue to stay at their current average the next three months should propel 2014 into record breaking range. The winter was fierce in the Northeast, but even that bitter cold could not stem the rest of the data. Records show that January though September was already the hottest period those months have been since temperatures were first recorded (four of the past nine months have been record warm) and October through December looks to be no different.

As a result of rising climate temperatures, the NCDC estimates that the year will end on a warm note. A lot of this is due to the fact that oceanic temperatures rise and fall at a rate much slower than land temperature. This persistence is key in making future predictions, and makes it very likely that the temperature for the last three months of the year will echo the temperature seen in the first nine.

If the NCDC is right about these trends, 2014 would be the warmest year since temperature data was first taken down in 1880. Even so, despite the potential for 2014 to break preexisting warmth records, scientists have also said that current models suggest there is a sixty percent chance of an El Nino happening this year.