WASHINGTON — While Earth was a tad cooler last year than the last couple of years, it still was the fourth warmest on record, a new analysis shows.

With the partial U.S. government shutdown, federal agency calculations for last year’s temperatures are delayed. But independent scientists at Berkeley Earth calculate that last year’s average temperature was 58.93 degrees.

That’s 1.39 degrees warmer than the average from 1951 to 1980 and about 2.09 degrees warmer than pre-industrial times.

It’s likely other temperature measuring groups will agree on 2018’s ranking since they had it at fourth hottest through November, said Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather. Record-keeping started in 1850.

Only 2016, 2017 and 2015 were warmer than last year, with only small differences among them.