Our planet's average temperature was the highest ever during July 2015 since scientists began recording the data in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's latest climate report. The first seven months of the year were all record breakers for their time of the year, which sets up 2015 to be the hottest year ever recorded, NOAA said.
Read the full NOAA report here
The startling research document details record heatwaves around the globe. "Large regions of Earth's land surfaces were much warmer than average."
"The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for July 2015 was the highest for July in the 136-year period of record, at 0.81°C (1.46°F) above the 20th century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F), surpassing the previous record set in 1998 by 0.08°C (0.14°F). As July is climatologically the warmest month of the year globally, this monthly global temperature of 16.61°C (61.86°F) was also the highest among all 1627 months in the record that began in January 1880. The July temperature is currently increasing at an average rate of 0.65°C (1.17°F) per century."
While land surface temps high, ocean surface temperatures also set records. The Pacific Ocean's central equator region heated up "near 1.0°C (1.8°F) above the 1981-2010 average," resulting in a greater than 90% chance "that El Niño will continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2015/16, and around an 85% chance it will last into early spring 2016."
"Other areas across the world's ocean surfaces also experienced record warmth or much warmer-than-average conditions, including all of the Indian Ocean, most of the eastern and equatorial Pacific, various regions of the North and South Atlantic, and the Barents Sea in the Arctic. A large patch in the Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland remained much cooler than average."
Also read First Sharknado, Now 'Godzilla' El Niño! California Faces Record Storms
Lead Stories' Trendolizer is constantly scouring social nets around the world for the hottest trending content related to climate change and global warming. Scroll down to see the latest.
