Warmer than average temperatures were recorded in South America, North America, Africa and Europe, NOAA says.
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Scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report that they expect 2015 to be the hottest year on record.
NASA also observed the telltale signature of the powerful El Nino event – the much-warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central tropical Pacific. That difference from normal is the largest ever recorded in any month for the global ocean, NOAA says.
Weather monitoring data stretches back more than 135 years, to 1880.
Scientists believe at year’s end, we could’ve seen the highest temperatures to date, and the result of that could be scary.
Less heat is absorbed, lifting global temperatures by 0.1-0.2 degrees, which when added to the warming resulting from rising greenhouse gases makes it more likely worldwide records will be beaten.
“The records are getting attention but I worry the public will grow tired of reports of new records each month”, said University of Georgia climate scientist Marshall Shepherd. Warmer nights contribute to the yearly warmth because it is the combination of lows and highs that are used to calculate the global average. In Riverside, daytime temperatures averaged almost 3-degrees below normal.
While July is typically the hottest month of the year, the record-breaking heat was felt around the entire world. It surpassed a previous record set in 1998 by 0.08°C.
Five months, including the last three, have broken their temperature records in 2015, NOAA said.
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Following suit, both Australia and Spain experienced its hottest month on record.
