NOAA – State of the Climate Global Analysis May 2012: “With the dissipation of La Niña during boreal spring, the May 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces climbed to 0.66°C (1.19°F) above the 20th century average. This places May 2012 as the second warmest May in the 133-year period of record, falling 0.05°C (0.09°F) short of the record warmth of 2010, a month when a nearly year-long warm phase El Niño had just ended. The Northern Hemisphere experienced its all-time warmest May on record, at 0.85°C (1.53°F) above average, breaking the record previously set in 2010. The Southern Hemisphere temperature anomaly was not quite as dramatic, but still ranked ninth warmest among all Mays on record, at 0.47°C (0.85°F) above average.”