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Thursday, July 22, 2010
Hottest
June recorded worldwide - June 2010 sets world
record
Asheville, NC, USA -- The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which started recording
temperatures from the early 1880s, announced that during June,
the combined average for global land and ocean temperatures
was 16.2 degrees Celsius, 0.68C more than the 20th century
average of 15.5C - setting the new world record for the Hottest
June. 
Photo: People shade themselves from the
sun in Brooklyn. AFP photo (enlarge
photo)
The combined global land and ocean average
surface temperature for June 2010 was the warmest on record
at 61.1 degrees F (16.2 degrees C), which is 1.22 degrees
F (0.68 degrees C) above the 20th century average of 59.9
degrees F (15.5 degrees C).
The global June land surface temperature
was 1.93 degrees F (1.07 degrees C) above the 20th century
average of 55.9 degrees F (13.3 degrees C) - the warmest on
record.
Most continents experienced hotter-than-average
temperatures, with Eastern Europe seeing the biggest spikes.
Meteorologists blame El Nino, which causes warmer temperatures
across the Pacific Ocean.
Not only was last month the hottest June
ever recorded, it was the fourth consecutive month in which
the standing high mark was topped.
Warmer-than-average conditions dominated
the globe, with the most prominent warmth in Peru, the central
and eastern contiguous United States and eastern and western
Asia.
Cooler-than-average regions included Scandinavia,
southern China and the northwestern contiguous United States.
Out on the oceans, the worldwide ocean
surface temperature was 0.97 degrees F (0.54 degrees C) above
the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees F (16.4 degrees C),
which was the fourth warmest June on record. The Atlantic
Ocean showed the greatest temperature increase.
Experts see the rising heat as a bad sign
for climate change, as June had a record low in Arctic sea
ice. Plus, upcoming cooling temperatures in the Atlantic could
make for a strong hurricane season.
As a block, the January-to-June period registered
the warmest combined global land and ocean surface temperatures
since 1880, when reliable temperature readings began, NOAA
said.
Arctic ice cover -- another critical yardstick
of global warming -- had also retreated more than ever before
by July 1, putting it on track to shrink beyond its smallest
area to date, in 2007.
Without steep cuts in greenhouse gas
emissions, the global thermometer could rise by 6.0 degrees
Celsius (10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial
levels, making large swathes of the planet unlivable, the
UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has
warned.
Voluntary national pledges made after the
Copenhagen climate summit in December would likely cap that
increase at 3.5 C to 4.0 C (6.3 F to 7.2 F), still fall far
short of the 2.0 C (3.6 C) limit that most scientists agree
is the threshold for dangerous warming.
June was the 304th consecutive
month with a global surface temperature above the 20th-century
average, the NOAA reported.
The most recent month to dip below that
average was February 1985, more than a quarter century ago.
All of the ten warmest average annual
global temperatures recorded since the end of the 19th century
have occurred in the last 15 years.
Scientists, researchers and leaders in government
and industry use NOAA's monthly reports to help track trends
and other changes in the world's climate.
This climate service helps farmers determine
what and when to plant and guides resource managers with critical
decisions about water, energy and other vital assets.
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News feed to receive updates. Related world records:
Largest
interactive weather report - BBC News School Report
Highest
surface wind speed - Tropical Cyclone Olivia
Longest
career as a weather forecaster - Dave Devall
Thursday, July 22, 2010
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