Following a national trend, New York City experienced its warmest year on record in 2012.
The Wall Street Journal reports federal data pulled from a Central Park observation center 2012 will surpass the tied record held in 1990, 1991 and 1998 as the balmiest year ever recorded in the city.
"If you were to end the year right now, we would finish a 10th of a degree above 1991, which was the current warmest year on record," said National Weather Service meteorologist David Stark.
Weather.com officials say St. Louis and Chicago are also on track to record their warmest years ever.
The lower 48 states also experienced its third hottest summer this year.
The summer months brought brutal temperatures for New Yorkers and in the throughout the Northeast.
The new data further renews climate change concerns heightened by the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy in late October.
Just days before the 2012 presidential election, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Barack Obama for reelection, citing action on climate change as one of his chief concerns.
In a statement responding to the endorsement, President Barack Obama said that while the two politicians may not agree on every issue, they both believe "climate change is a threat to our children's future, and we owe it to them to do something about it."
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated that 2012 tied with the current record. This year will in fact surpass the previously held temperature.
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