NOAA Data Shows July Was Earth’s Hottest Month in Grim New Record
‘UNENVIABLE DISTINCTION’
July was the hottest month ever recorded, earning the Earth an “unenviable” new distinction, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The new record announced Friday, has been repeatedly reset in recent years as the realities of climate change take their toll. The last warmest month on record was July 2016, which was matched two years in a row in 2019 and 2020, NOAA said.
The combined land- and ocean-surface temperature around the world according to NOAA’s data was 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average of 60.4 degrees.
The news comes after earlier this week a new climate report from the United Nations sounded the alarm over the increasingly dire threats of a warming planet.
In a statement Friday, NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said that last month’s record-breaking heat “adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe.”