We may only be two months into 2015, but already the year is burning up the charts, setting up the possibility that it could topple 2014's newly minted record for hottest year.

Together, January and February were the warmest such period on record, according to global data released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With an El Nino (albeit a weak one) in place, there's potential for that warmth to stick around and elevate temperatures for more of the year.

Of course, two months is only a small portion of the year, and it's impossible to say for sure how the remainder will turn out. But regardless of its final ranking, 2015 will almost certainly be much warmer than most years in the records (which stretch back to 1880), thanks to the steady rise in global temperatures fueled by the unabated release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.