The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) publishes the deciding data in its monthly global temperature rankings, released with its Global Climate Report, using the Average Temperature rankings for the Global region and the Land and Ocean surface for December 2026. The deciding value is the Warmest rank in the 1-month row of the rankings table, which ranks the month against the same calendar month in every year since 1850. The outcome is Yes if NOAA ranks December 2026 as the 1st warmest and No otherwise. If NOAA changes its methodology in a way that affects the ranking, the data from its most recent model is used. The value becomes final when NOAA publishes the Global Climate Report at 10:00 AM CT, in the first half of the following month. Early resolution does not apply, and if NOAA delays the report, resolution waits until it is published.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) publishes the deciding data in its monthly global temperature rankings, released with its Global Climate Report, using the Average Temperature rankings for the Global region and the Land and Ocean surface for December 2026. The deciding value is the Warmest rank in the 1-month row of the rankings table, which ranks the month against the same calendar month in every year since 1850. The outcome is Yes if NOAA ranks December 2026 as the 1st warmest and No otherwise. If NOAA changes its methodology in a way that affects the ranking, the data from its most recent model is used. The value becomes final when NOAA publishes the Global Climate Report at 10:00 AM CT, in the first half of the following month. Early resolution does not apply, and if NOAA delays the report, resolution waits until it is published.