Is It Really That Hot This Summer

Meteorologists say 2015 is a near certainty to eclipse 2014 as the hottest year on record.

Well, not quite. But close.

In 136 years of global temperature data, we are in uncharted territory.

New data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today shows that August was the hottest month on record, and the summer months of June through August were the warmest months on the planet. That was set way, way back…in 2014. Arndt said that to avoid being the warmest year on record, 2015’s global climate would have to average near the 20th century average, something that hasn’t been seen since the 1980s. And expect that trend to continue.

It was also the hottest January-August period yet recorded. August makes it more likely, he said. September so far is a whopping 6.6 degrees above normal. The Antarctic sea ice was also below average in August, for the first time since November 2011, by 0.5 percent.

Finally, in a fine piece of investigative reporting, the small, Pulitzer Prize-winning organization InsideClimate News revealed that ExxonMobil knew that global warming was manmade and going to be a devastating problem decades before nearly anyone else-and accelerated fossil fuel production anyway.

“Well for us it only ranked out about our 4th warmest summer on record”, Tim said.

And Florida Sen. Marco Rubio added: “America is not a planet”.

The average land and sea surface temperature for the month was 1.58 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, beating the monthly record – set just past year – by 0.16 degrees Fahrenheit. August was the sixth record-breaking month in 2015, and five of the ten largest monthly temperature departures from average all happened this year.There was record warmth across parts of South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. This value exceeded the previous record set in 2014 by +0.11°F (+0.06°C).