2018 : ''FOURTH HOTTEST RECORD ''

2018 was fourth hottest year on record : researchers. The last four years have been the world's hottest since record keeping began.

With 2018 the fourth warmest on record, according to the data published Thursday by US research group Berkeley Earth.

Temperatures in 2018 were around 1.16 degrees Celsius [2.09 degrees Fahrenheit] above the average temperature of the second half of the 19th century, from 1850-1900, often used as a pre-industrial baseline for global temperature targets.

''Global mean temperature in 2018 was colder than 2015, 2016 and 2017, but warmer than previously observed year prior to 2015,'' the report said. [Agencies].