US agencies Nasa and Noaa report that the average global temperature in June was 0.9°C hotter than the 20th century average and the hottest June since records began in 1880. It is the 14th consecutive month of record-breaking heat and broke the previous record, set in 2015, by 0.02°C. The last time the world experienced a June below the 20th century average was 40 years ago.
The sequence of record breaking monthly temperatures began in April 2015, and was helped along by a powerful El Niño, an annual oceanic event in which a huge volume of warm water spreads across the Pacific. But the effects of El Niño have receded, and the effects of global warming are reeald, according to Nasa’s Gavin Schmidt.
“While the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific this winter gave a boost to global temperatures from October onwards, it is the underlying trend which is producing these record numbers,” he said.
In a report by UK newspaper The Guardian Nasa’s Walt Meir commented that the global temperatures have been exacerbated by extreme temperatures over the Arctic. Warm temperatures there are pushing up the global average, as well a causing record-low amounts of sea ice. “It has been a record year so far for global temperatures, but the record high temperatures in the Arctic over the past six months have been even more extreme,” he said. “This warmth as well as unusual weather patterns have led to the record-low sea ice extents so far this year.”
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