World ‘breaks new heat records in July’

The previous warmest month, July, 1998 was 0.14 degrees colder than this year’s, according to NOAA calculations. The 0.75-degree departure from the 20th century average was not only the largest on record for July but for any month on record, NOAA said.

Before world leaders could actually take action and sign the agreement to stop climate change that was supposed to be made in three months in Paris, it turns out that 2015 was even hotter than a year ago. Not to mention, last January was the second warmest January on record, and last April was the third warmest. “That is being proven time and time once more in our knowledge”, stated Jake Crouch, bodily scientist at NOAA’s National Centres for Environmental Information. Jessica Blunden, climate scientist at NOAA, is 99 percent certain that, under the current circumstances, 2015 will blow out of the water any other warm year.

Record keeping started in 1880.

The average temperature across global land and sea surfaces was 16.61 degrees Celsius (61.86 degrees Fahrenheit), marking the hottest July ever. However, the Antarctic sea ice during the same month was 622,000 square kilometres (3.8%) below the average during the same period.

The prediction for 2015 becoming the hottest year on record is based on observed temperatures so far, plus the coming El Niño event. So, despite the early record heat, overall, the average July temperature for the UK was 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the 1981-2010 average. Crouch told the ABC that two main factors are at play: a long-term warming trend across the globe, plus the formation of El Nino in the equatorial Pacific region.

The heat waves were felt worldwide as this month seems to have been the hottest in history.

The post July 2015 was Earth’s hottest month on record appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

“This is consistent with the Met Office’s global temperature forecast which predicted that a record or near record year is very much on the cards for 2015”.

For the extended analysis of the state of Earth’s climate, check out NOAA’s full report.