Putting the words 'hottest' and '2015' together might not turn out to be a good thing, as far as temperature is concerned.
Four months of this year have made it to the top four hottest months, with July being the warmest not only in 2015, but in the entire history of recorded global temperatures. Prior to 2015, the last recorded warmest month was also in July almost two decades ago. Global temperature records date back to as far as over a century ago.
According to NOAA, the warmest month of the year measured 1.46°F (0.81°C) , going beyond the average measurement for July in the 20th century. In any year, July is known as the warmest month climatologically. In 1998, the same month was ranked as the warmest since 1880, but this year's measurement exceeded that of July 1998's by 0.14°F (0.08°C) , pushing the previous top ranker to second place. 2015 is also 1.53°F (0.85°C) above the 20th century average, and 0.16°F (0.09°C) warmer than 2010 which was recorded to have the warmest first half of the year from January to July.
"We are now fairly certain that 2015 will be the warmest year on record for the globe," said climatologist Jake Crouch from the NOAA.
This year's El Niño may also be among the strongest El Niños ever recorded, as it is expected to last until the end of this year. From the measurements so far, experts say 2015 is likely to surpass 2014.
Along the waters of the Pacific and on the land surface all across the planet including majority of the northern half of the United States, rising temperatures have been influenced this year by El Niño. Experts anticipate it to peak yet in early winter or late fall. It will therefore be least likely for the temperatures of the remaining months this year to fall and be cool enough to fall behind 2014.
Apart from El Niño, other factors are affecting the continuous rising of the planet's temperatures. Greenhouse gases are also trapping heat into the Earth's atmosphere, making areas across the globe warmer. As the 20th century came, temperatures have begun to rise by an average of 1.6°F(0.89°C) , leading to more years recorded as the warmest in history.
According to the Climate Central analysis, out of the 15 years recorded as the warmest, 13 fall under years occurring since 2000. The odds of that randomly occurring, if global warming was taken out of the picture, are one in 27 million.
Photo: Horia Varlan | Flickr
