Smoothly worded...
But this year's temperatures would still be way above the average - and we would soon exceed the record year of 1998 because of global warming induced by greenhouse gases.
What they're sort of skating around is that the temperatures have remained pretty much flat for about ten years. If they were flat for another twenty years, they'd still be "above average," depending on what "average" is set at.
That record year of 1998? Oh, wait. That's about ten years ago, isn't it?
From the Hadley Centre:
That's land and ocean surface temperatures.
This is what's happening deep in the ocean.