By Andrew Restuccia for POLITICO

The United States posted its second hottest year on record in 2015, government scientists reported Thursday, extending the streak of warmer-than-average annual temperatures.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the annual average temperature in the contiguous United States last year was 54.4 degrees Fahrenheit, a figure that was 2.4 degrees above the average in the last century. The only warmer year in the United States since record keeping began in 1895 was 2012, which clocked in at an average of 55.3 degrees, NOAA said.

There were also 10 extreme weather and climate events that each resulted in more than $1 billion in damages.

Thursday’s announcement comes less than a month after 195 countries including the United States reached a landmark deal that for the first time compels nearly every nation on Earth to begin taking steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions.