News articles on records
Mongabay.com news articles on records in blog format. Updated regularly.
Common moth can hear higher frequencies than any other animal on Earth
(05/09/2013) A common little moth turns out to have the best ears in the animal kingdom. According to a new study in Biology Letters, the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) is capable of hearing frequencies up to 300,000 hertz (300kHz), which is 15 times the frequency humans can hear at their prime, around 20 kHz.
September tied for world's warmest on record
(10/16/2012) September 2012 tied with 2005 for the warmest on record around the globe, according to new data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The average land and ocean temperature was 16.27 degrees Celsius (61.31 degrees Fahrenheit) for this September, 0.67 degrees Celsius (1.21 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th Century average for the month. Shockingly, this is the 331st month in a row that has been above the 20th Century average.
Arctic sea ice approaches another record melt
(08/22/2012) Sea ice extent in the Arctic is very near to beating the previous record low set in 2007, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center. Researchers told Reuters that they expect the record to be beaten by the end of month, well over a week before the melt season ends in the frozen north.
Fourth warmest July yet around the world
(08/20/2012) Last month was the fourth warmest July in the record books going back to 1880 worldwide, according to new data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It was notably warmer in the Northern Hemisphere than in the South: the month was the warmest July ever in the North. Worldwide temperatures were 0.62 degrees Celsius (1.12 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th Century average.
July 2012: hottest month in U.S. history
(08/08/2012) Last month was not only the hottest July in U.S. weather history, but the hottest month ever recorded in the contiguous U.S, besting a record struck in July 1936 during the Dust Bowl, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The average temperature last month over the contiguous U.S. was 77.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average. Making matters worse, crippling drought continued to spread over 63 percent of the lower 48 states.
Northern Hemisphere experiences warmest June on record
(07/17/2012) The Northern Hemisphere suffered its warmest June on record across land and sea, while globally it was the fourth warmest June yet, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Deja vu: U.S. undergoes hottest 12 months on record...again and again
(07/12/2012) According to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s National Climatic Data Center, the last twelve months have been the warmest on record for the contiguous United States. This record, set between July 2011 through June 2012, beat the last consecutive twelve month record set only a month earlier between June 2011 and May 2012, which in turn beat the previous record holder, you guessed it: May 2011 through April 2012.
Second warmest May yet worldwide
(06/18/2012) Last month was the second warmest May since record-keeping of global temperatures began 132 years ago. Globally, temperatures were 0.66 degrees Celsius (1.19 Fahrenheit) above the 20th Century Average and were only topped by May 2010, according to preliminary findings by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
U.S. undergoes warmest spring on record
(06/12/2012) Spring in the U.S. was the warmest on record, beating the past record-year (1910), by a stunning two degrees Fahrenheit, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The data also shows that the past 12 months--from June 2011 through May 2012--was the warmest on record in the contiguous U.S. as well.
As La Nina ends, world experiences 5th warmest April
(05/21/2012) La Nina conditions, which generally bring colder temperatures to many parts of the world, ended last month resulting in the fifth warmest April since record-keeping began, and the hottest April yet in the terrestrial Northern Hemisphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
U.S. suffers warmest March, breaking over 15,000 record temperatures
(04/11/2012) March was the warmest ever recorded in the U.S. with record-keeping going back to 1895, according to new data by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But the month wasn't just a record-breaker, it was shockingly aberrant: an extreme heatwave throughout much of the eastern and central U.S. shattered 15,272 day and nighttime records across the U.S. In all March 2012 was 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the previous warmest March in 1910, and an astounding 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average for March in the U.S.
