Ocean Temps Reach All-Time Highs As June Marks Second-Straight Monthly Record b4in.org/s6Ox The month of June set a new all-time heat record with an average global temperature of 61.2 degrees – five percent higher than the old record, which was set in 2010, officials from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday. According to CBS and Associated Press (AP) reports, last month’s average global temperature was 1.3 degrees higher than the 20th century average. In addition, ocean temperatures not only broke a monthly heat record but set an all-time high at 62.7 degrees, said Derek Arndt, chief of the NOAA climate monitoring branch. June marked the second consecutive monthly heat record, as May’s average global temperature was 1.33 degrees above the average of 58.6 degrees, noted USA Today’s Doyle Rice. Furthermore, it was the 38th consecutive June (dating back to 1976) and 352nd consecutive month (dating back to February 1985) with a global temperature above the 20th century average. “We are living in the steroid era of the climate system,” Arndt told CBS and the AP, noting that the June heat set new records on every continent but Antarctica. In fact, all 12 of the monthly global heat records have been set since 1997 (including over half during the last decade), and no monthly cold records have been set since 1917. NOAA also said that the first six months of the year was the third warmest first half-year ever, behind only 2010 and 1998. NOAA climatologist Jessica Blunden told the Wall Street Journal that the record-high temperatures are due in part to the forthcoming El Niño, which causes global ocean temperatures to rise. That results in larger Pacific hurricanes and colder winters in the southern US. When combined with climate change, the regular weather pattern that includes El Niño will likely result in even warmer than normal summer weather – and quite possibly, more monthly records. More b4in.org/s6Ox
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:43:59 +0000
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