The Earth's average temperature in 2015 is on track to be the warmest on record, and the same can be said for the five-year period from 2011-2015.

According to BBC News, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also projected 2016 to surpass 2015 as the new hottest year on record if El Niño weather patterns hold.

"The state of the global climate in 2015 will make history as for a number of reasons," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a news release. "Levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached new highs and in the Northern hemisphere spring 2015 the three-month global average concentration of CO2 crossed the 400 parts per million barrier for the first time. 2015 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with ocean surface temperatures at the highest level since measurements began.  It is probable that the 1°C Celsius threshold will be crossed.

"This is all bad news for the planet."

The WMO noted 2015's average global temperature will be a full degree Celsius higher than it was before the Industrial Age, which the organization called a "symbolic and significant milestone." While the exact figures are not yet final, the results are not surprising climatologists and scientists across the globe.

"I would call it certain," Deke Arndt, chief climate monitor at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Al Jazeera America. "Something game-changing massive would have to happen for it not to be a record."