July 2012 temperatures as compared to 1981-2010 baseline. Graph courtesy of NOAA. Click to enlarge.
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.
“This is the fourth month in a row that the Northern Hemisphere has set a new monthly land temperature record,” the NOAA State of the Climate notes in their analysis.
With the new data in, the year is currently the tenth warmest to date. 2012 began with La Nina conditions subsiding and neutral conditions returning. El Nino has not started yet, however scientists believe there is an over 70 percent chance El Nino conditions will begin by September which would likely raise the global thermostat even further.
July 2012 was the 329th month in a row with global temperatures above the Twentieth Century average. In fact, anyone alive today who is 26 years old or under has never known a month below the global Twentieth Century average.
Climate change linked to greenhouse gas emissions has pushed the global temperature up by 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.44 degrees Fahrenheit) since the early Twentieth Century. Despite decades of international agreements and negotiations, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise globally as do temperatures.
Graph courtesy of NOAA. Click to enlarge.
As La Nina subsided, global temperatures have been creeping upward this year (black line). Currently the year is the tenth warmest on record. Graph courtesy of NOAA. Click to enlarge.
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