Global mean temperatures in July 2016 were the warmest on record for any month dating to 1979, according an analysis released Thursday.
July 2016 surface temperature anomalies relative to 1981-2010 average. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), operated by the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the global average July temperature was nearly one-fifth of a degree Celsius higher than previous July temperature records set in 2015 and in 2009. July was also 0.55 degrees Celsius higher than the July average for 1981-2010.
Compared to the July average, the south-central part of the United States including Texas and into northern Mexico were the most anomalously warm for North America.
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Globally, portions of western Russia and the Southern Ocean were warmest compared to average.
In Russia, fires and an anthrax outbreak have been blamed on warmer than average temperatures.
Each of the last 12 months has been the warmest on record for their respective months. This is due to a combination of global climate variability and human activity according to C3S.
Annual temperature variations since 1979. July is typically the warmest month of the year globally because the Northern Hemisphere has more land masses than the Southern Hemisphere. Land can heat up faster and further than the ocean can, so the Southern Hemisphere cannot get as warm as easily in their summer.
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This new record is not to say that this is the warmest the Earth has ever been, but it is the warmest since we humans have been taking recording temperatures. Some locations on Earth may still be cooler than average.
Three additional July temperature analyses from the Japanese Meteorological Agency, NASA, and NOAA will be released in the coming days, with much longer periods of record dating to the late 19th century, to provide additional perspective.
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