June 2014 was the hottest June ever recorded, since temperature tracking began in 1880. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stated this was the second record-breaking month in a row.
During the month of June, 2014, global temperatures were measured to be 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average of 59.9 degrees. On land, temperatures around the globe rose by 1.71 degrees over that same benchmark, to 55.9 degrees. This was the seventh-highest temperature seen in the last 134 years.
Oceans are, on average, warmer than land. Temperatures in seas around the world averaged 61.5 Fahrenheit, up 1.15 degrees, a record departure for the month. The period from January to June 2014 was the third-warmest on record.
Land and sea temperatures together for the first half of the year rose by 1.21 degrees over average 20th Century readings.
"June 2014 marked the 38th consecutive June and 352nd consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-average global temperature for June was June 1976 and the last below-average global temperature for any month was February 1985," NOAA officials reported.
New Zealand was one area which saw a dramatic rise in temperatures. The island nation experienced its hottest June since record keep began in 1909. This was seen across the country.
France saw their fifth-warmest June in the last 115 years, when records were first collected. The land saw average temperatures rose 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit over the 1981 to 2010 average.
Parts of Greenland saw record-high temperatures, including Kangerlussuaq in the southwest of the nation. The settlement, sitting at the head of fjords of the same name, saw its hottest day on record - 73.8 degrees Fahrenheit - on 15 June.
Stykkishòlmur in western Iceland saw the hottest June since local records started in 1845. The nation's capital, Reykjavìk, reported the fourth-warmest June seen in 143 years.
"Similar to May, scattered sections across every major ocean basin were record warm. Notably, large parts of the western equatorial and northeastern Pacific Ocean and nearly all of the Indian Ocean were record warm or much warmer than average for the month," NOAA officials stated in their report.
El Niño and La Niña conditions in central and eastern regions of the equatorial Pacific can cause water temperatures to rise. They were not present during June, but NOAA estimates a 70 percent chance of their formation in summer, rising to 80 percent in autumn.
Areas of eastern North America, along with far-southern reaches of South America, experienced significantly cooler temperatures.
