I have been following and critiquing the climate change ideology since 2005 at the blog/On Target, making this my 19th year if I got the maths right. Over that time the climate change elites have usually said that each year is the hottest in some many years, usually hundreds. Even if one did believe in the climate change ideology, such proclamations would be needed to be taken with a bag of salt, as temperature records only go back to the 19th century, and for longer periods, there is scientific guess work based upon theoretical deductions from various theories. So, it is all an uncertain business.
Keeping up the corrupt tradition, the mainstream media has pushed the line that 2023 was the hottest year in the last 125,000 years. But, as detailed below, using various proxy measurements, which it is granted have their uncertainties as well, scientists have found much hotter periods in the past than the present era, between 10,000 to 5,000 years ago. Then, it is conjectured, the average global temperature was 1.5 C higher than the present-day era. On this scenario, the Arctic was ice free. Go back further in the 125,000-time span and both colder and warmer periods can be found.