July was Earth’s hottest month in modern times: US

Miami, Aug 17 (AFP) Soaring temperatures worldwide madeJuly the Earth’s hottest month in modern times, setting a newhigh mark for global heat in 137 years of record-keeping, USgovernment scientists said today. The report from the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration came just two days after the US space agencyNASA released its climate data, which also found July was arecord-breaking month. "July is typically the hottest month for the globe, andlast month didn’t disappoint," said a summary of the monthlyreport by NOAA. "July 2016 was 1.57 degrees Fahrenheit above the20th-century average, breaking last year’s record for thewarmest July on record by 0.11 degrees." Scientists say the heating trend is being driven byfossil-fuel burning, and is made worse by the ocean warmingphenomenon known as El Nino, which came to an end last month. July’s global average of temperatures taken over land andocean surfaces were the "highest for any month in the NOAAglobal temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880." July also marks the 15th consecutive month of breakingmonthly temperature records, "the longest such streak in the137-year record," NOAA said. The report found above average warmth across most of theEarth, with new records observed in parts of Indonesia,southern Asia, and New Zealand. Places that saw near average or cooler than normaltemperatures last month included the northwestern UnitedStates, eastern Canada, southern South America, southwesternAustralia, north central Russia, Kazakhstan, and India. Temperatures were record high even though El Nino hasended, and neither the warming trend of El Nino or the coolerLa Nina prevailed across the tropical Pacific Ocean duringJuly 2016. La Nina is "slightly favored to develop duringAugust-October 2016, with about 55-60 per cent chance of LaNina during the northern hemisphere fall and winter 2016/17,"NOAA said. But even a break in El Nino, which contributed to thesurging global temperatures this year, is not likely to sway2016 from its track toward becoming the hottest year in thecontemporary era for global heat. NOAA said the first seven months of the year are the"warmest such period on record at 1.85 degrees Fahrenheit(1.03 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average." That is one-third of a degrees Fahrenheit above theprevious record set in 2015. (AFP)UZM