The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a statement on Tuesday saying: “June temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62°F above the 20th century average of 59.9°F.
According to NOAA, and confirmed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “This marks the 14th consecutive month the monthly global temperature record has been broken, the longest such streak in the 137-year record.”
Even though the effects of the monstrous El Nino from last year are fading, the heat associated with the weather phenomenon are still with us. NOAA says that in the first half of 2016 the temperature was 0.36 F (0.2 C) warmer than last year and this year is already on track to set a new global heat record for the third year in a row.
This week, we may see “one of the worst heat waves in the last few decades” ClimateSignals
— Climate Nexus (@ClimateNexus) July 20, 2016
EcoWatch reports that another indication of the severity of the warming we are experiencing is the rapid increase in the melting of Greenland’s ice. It is estimated that Greenland lost over 1 trillion tons of ice between 2010 and 2014, and the ice is continuing to melt at an increased rate of speed.
NOAA also spoke about what is called the “monthly temperature departure” or what we know as record spikes in heat. The Daily Mail reports that the agency says there have been 14 of these spikes since February 2015, another indication that global warming is accelerating.
