WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (UPI) — Scientists at NOAA have compiled the globe’s average temperatures over the course of July, and the verdict is in: July was the hottest month on record.
As the agency shared in a new report, the average temperature in July was 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 20th century average for the month — making it the hottest July since accurate record keeping began in 1880.
And since July is already, on average, the hottest month of the year, that makes July 2015 the hottest month ever recorded in modern history.
A combination of land and water surface temperatures, the average global temperature in July was 61.86 degrees Fahrenheit. The average beat out the previous record, set in 1998, by 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures are recorded using a combination of land-based sensors and satellite instruments.
While land temperature averages alone put July as the sixth-hottest month on record, ocean surface temperature — especially across the Pacific and Indian oceans — far exceeded previous records.
The news makes it all the more certain that 2015 will be the hottest year on record.
“This was the highest for January-July in the 1880-2015 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2010,” NOAA officials wrote in a news release.
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