Despite a brutally long and frigid winter last year north of the border, U.S. government scientists said Friday that 2014 was the hottest year in Earth’s recorded history.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA calculated that in 2014, the planet had its hottest year in all 135 that are in the books.

According to the NOAA, the earth averaged 14.58 degrees Celsius last year, nearly 0.7 degrees warmer than the 20th century average.

Nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000. In 2014, six months set records for heat.

Canadians can be forgiven for being a little skeptical of the numbers, says Dave Phillips, Environment Canada’s senior climatologist.

“Canadians are saying, ‘Huh?’” Phillips told CTV’s News Channel on Friday. “We had a cold year last year.”

In southern Ontario and Quebec in particular, residents endured “a winter that went on forever, a spring that was more winter-like and a second-rate summer,” Phillips said.

Canada is the second-largest country in the world, and accounts for approximately seven per cent of the land mass. But Phillips said our Arctic-like temperatures in 2014 “didn’t contribute anything to the fact that it was the warmest year on record.”

Phillips noted that 2014 wasn’t much of an “El Nino” year.

An El Nino weather event happens when a region of the Pacific Ocean warms, thus causing weather temperatures to spike across the globe.

“All this warmth was really nature doing it on its own, or at least the planet,” Phillips said.

Global warming

According to NASA, carbon dioxide emissions are largely to blame for the record warm year.

Texas A&M University Atmospheric Sciences professor Andrew Dressler says the steady rise in temperatures in recent years can be directly linked to carbon emissions.

“Scientists have been predicting for 100 years that if you burn fossil fuels and load the atmosphere with carbon, the temperatures are going to go up,” Dressler said.

Dressler said up until recently, he has been discouraged by the lack of action taken by nation states to combat climate change. Now, influential countries like the U.S. and China are taking steps to address fuel emissions.

“I think with the U.S., China and Europe on board, countries like Canada and Australia …. Will be forced to go along with it,” he said, adding that countries can take action to “head off” major warming expected by the end of the century.