The Japanese already have declared 2014 as the warmest on record, and at last look it was holding a infinitesimal lead in the National Climactic Data Center's tallies.
On Friday, NCDC will release its official Planet Earth tally for 2014, and we would be beyond surprised if it didn't finish in the top three.
Through November, 2014 was 0.01 degree ahead of 2010 in the race for the warmest first 11 months of the year, in records dating to 1880. That's more than close, given the margin of error.
Currently, 2010 is in a statistical tie with 2005 for the warmest year on record with an estimated worldwide temperature of 58.17 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.17 degrees above the 20th Century average.
Taking the Earth's temperature is a bit more complicated than, say, inserting a thermometer under a tongue.
For a discussion of the complications, we refer you to this NASA link. NASA maintains its own surface database, which also has 2010 and 2005 tied for first.
Friday's media event will be a joint presentation of NCDC and NASA.
A separate NASA database tracks temperatures through the lower five miles of the atmosphere via satellite. According to John Christy, a keeper of the data, which covers 36 years, 2014 finished third.
Last January, retired NASA scientist James Hansen, an icon in the global-warming universe, noted that the rate of warming had slowed in the last decade, which he attributed in part to cooling in the Pacific Ocean.
That said, warming has continued, albeit at a slower pace, and all the years in NCDC's top 20 have occurred since 1990.
As we've noted, on average the rate of year-to-year change has been small, never more above 0.5 Fahrenheit in either direction, thus it makes sense that recent years would dominate the top.
Here is the NCDC temperature database. By scrolling down, you'll find an option for downloading the data onto spreadsheets.