2010 was the hottest year on record according to the United Nations' World Meteorological Organisation, and continues the trend of warmer weather and more extreme weather events.

"The 2010 data confirm the Earth's significant long-term warming trend," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said. "The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998."

Arctic sea ice continues to recede with ice cover in December being recorded as the lowest on record for that month.

"There's no good news with respect to that -- the Arctic ice continues to be extremely low," Jarraud told journalists.

These climate statistics come on the back of recent findings that the decade between 2001 and 2010 was the hottest ten year period ever.

While Australia experienced a cooler than average year, most of Africa, southern and western Asia, Greenland and northern Canada had "an exceptionally warm year" in 2010.

Bob Ward, of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE) was reported in The Age as saying "Self-proclaimed climate change 'sceptics' may still try to claim that global warming stopped in 1998, but they cannot explain away the fact that nine of the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2000."

It is predicted that the continued dramatic melting of ice in the Arctic and Antarctica will have major consequences for low-lying coastal towns and cities around the globe.

A Cairns Regional Council report 'Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan' from June 2009 recognises the potential risk that increased storm surges, cyclone intensity, and sea levels will have on our region.

The report states that by the year 2030, the impact on our lives in terms of the community, our recreation, and our environment warrants a rating of 'Extreme'.

The Council report quotes sea level forecasts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who predict a rise of between 18-59 centimetres by the end of the century "with a possible additional contribution from ice sheets of 10 to 20 cm or more."

The report also states that the east coast of Australia may be even harder hit that the average global rise, prompting the Council to adopt a prediction of 79 centimetres by 2100.