After the satellite measures, UAH and RSS, both at 4th warmest in
their 30-year sequence, the first of the land-based measures is out.
NOAA has December as the 8th warmest December in its 130 year record.
What prevented it being warmer still was the Northern Hemisphere's
unusual cold. The outcome anomaly figure of +0.49C makes December the
coldest December since....2008!

"The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for
December 2009 was 0.49°C (0.88°F) above the 20th century average of
12.2°C (54.0°F). This is the eighth warmest December on
record." (NOAA).