It appears that 2014 will be an extraordinarily hot year for many countries around the world particularly in central Africa, southern Asia, New Zealand, Greenland and northern South America.
Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which monitors the condition of the atmosphere and the oceans, revealed that May of this year is the hottest in over a century of weather recording history. In a matter of just a few weeks, NOAA said that June this year has also become the hottest since 1880.
On Monday, July 21, the science-based federal agency revealed in its state of the climate report that it publishes monthly, that the average global temperate in June was 61.2 degrees, which is higher by 1.3 degrees compared with the 20th century average of 59.9 degrees.
"The combined average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces for June 2014 was record high for the month, at 0.72°C (1.30°F) above the 20th century average," NOAA said in its state of the climate global analysis report for June 2014. "This surpasses the previous record, set in June 1998, by 0.03°C (0.05°F)."
It isn't just May or June either with record-breaking heat this year as the earlier months of 2014 were also characterized by above average warmth. NOAA said that the first six months of this year came behind 2010 and 1998 as the warmest first six months on record. This year also ties with 2002 as the third hottest year on record with global temperature reaching about 1.21 degrees higher than the average.
Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) said that since the beginning of the year, each month except February has been among the four hottest and the rising temperatures is believed to have something to do with global warming.
Blunden said that the developing El Niño, a phenomenon that increases ocean temperatures and affects global weather, contribute to the record temperatures pointing out that most of the Indian Ocean and a large part of the Pacific Ocean were warmer than average for the month.
Blunden said that while El Nino is a regular climate pattern, combining it with climate change that the world currently experiences means that this year's El Nino brings with it warmer than average climate.
"Why we're seeing record temperatures when you had El Niño 40 years ago is because you have a warming temperature trend from climate change," Blunden said.
