1555. Global Heat Records Set for Month and Season

By Associated Press, The New York Times, September 18, 2014

The globe smashed more heat records last month, including earth’s hottest August and summer, federal meteorologists said on Thursday. May, June and August all set global heat records this year. Meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average world temperature in August was 61.36 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking a record set in 1998. Scientists at NASA, who calculate global temperature in a slightly different way, also found that August was the hottest on record. The month was especially hot in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and Africa, but cooler in parts of the United States, Europe and Australia. For the United States, it was the coolest August and summer since 2009. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records go back to 1880. But it is more than just one month. It was the warmest meteorological summer — June, July and August — on record for the globe, again beating out 1998. This year so far is the globe’s third warmest on record. “It’s not a done deal, but we are increasingly moving” toward breaking the hottest year record set in 2010, said Derek Arndt, NOAA’s climate monitoring chief. “This is the outcome of warming over the long term.”