News•July 19, 2013

Seventh-Warmest Start to the Year on Record

A map showing January-June temperatures across the globe.
Credit: NOAA & Climate Central

By Climate Central

Global temperature records are in for first half of the year, and they indicate a planet with no intention of cooling off. On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its analysis for the period from January to June. They show that six-month span ties with 2003 as the seventh warmest on record since 1880. Temperatures averaged over both land and sea ran 1.06°F above the 20th century average.

Some of the highlights include:

The land temperature alone is the sixth warmest on record, running 1.80°F above average.
The ocean temperature alone is seventh warmest, running 0.79°F above average.
While this was the seventh-warmest start to the year, some regions of the world experienced their warmest January-June on record. These include parts of Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia, which had to add a new color to its temperature map to account for the extreme heat.
June marks the 340th consecutive month — a total of more than 28 years — with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-normal month was February 1985.