The year 2010 is "almost certain" to be among the three hottest years since temperature records began in 1850, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.

This year so far was slightly warmer than both 1998 and 2005, the previous top two, but could slip if December cooled, the WMO said in a report released on the sidelines of the ongoing UN climate change talks in Mexico. A final ranking for 2010 is due to be published in early 2011.

The WMO said that land and sea surface temperatures so far in 2010 were 0.55 degrees Celsius above a 1961-1990 average of 14 degrees Celsius.

"Recent warming has been especially strong in Africa, parts of Asia, and parts of the Arctic," it said in a statement.

The past 10 years have also been the hottest decade on record, with temperatures for January to October averaging 0.46 degrees Celsius above the 1961-90 average.

Michel Jarraud, director general of the WMO, said the global warming trend was now indisputable and there is a "significant possibility 2010 could be the warmest."

Responding to the WMO's announcement, Barry Coates, policy advisor of non-governmental Oxfam, said: "These findings support what millions of poor people around the world on the frontline of climate change already know: that the climate is changing."

According to Oxfam, in the first nine months of this year 21, 000 people died due to weather-related disasters -- more than twice the number for the whole of 2009.

"Cancun must begin to resolve this by setting up a climate fund and identifying ways in which to raise the money desperately needed so that vulnerable people are closer to being able to protect themselves from the changing weather, which tragically is expected to get worse," Coates said.