EXPERTS: HOTTEST JULY ON RECORD, SAME LIKELY FOR 2015
Aug 20, 2015
By Bob Komsic
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In case you’ve been too busy enjoying the summer, U.S. weather officials say July was the warmest month on record.
And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 2015 is almost certain to beat last year as the hottest ever.
NAOO records go back to 1880.
July’s average temperature was 16.6 Celsius (61.86 Fahrenheit), beating the previous global mark set in 1998 and 2010 by 0.08 C.
The first seven months of this year were also the hottest January-to-July on record, with the average temperature of 14.7 Celsius (58.43 F).
Experts say these temperatures are caused by a combination of man-made climate change and a strong, near record El Nino – a warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that affects weather around the world for about a year.
Nine of the 10 hottest months on record have happened since 2005.
Twenty-two of the 25 hottest months on record have occurred after 2000.
A climate scientist with the NAOO says this shows despite what climate change doubters say, the Earth has been heating up for almost the last 20 years.