Iran Press/ America: An already warming Earth steamed to its hottest June on record, smashing the old global mark by nearly a quarter of a degree (0.13 degrees Celsius), with global oceans setting temperature records for the third straight month, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.
June’s 61.79 degrees Fahrenheit (16.55 degrees Celsius) global average was 1.89 degrees F (1.05 degrees Celsius) above the 20th Century average, the first time globally a summer month was more than a degree Celsius hotter than usual, according to NOAA. Other weather monitoring systems, such as NASA, Berkeley Earth, and Europe’s Copernicus, had already called the hottest June on record last month. Still, NOAA is the gold standard for record-keeping, with data going back 174 years to 1850.
The increase over the last June’s record is “a considerably big jump” because usually global monthly forms are so broad-based they often jump by hundredths, not quarters, of a degree, said NOAA climate scientist Ahira Sanchez-Lugo.
“The recent record temperatures, as well as extreme fires, pollution and flooding we are seeing this year are what we expect to see in a warmer climate,” said Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald. “We are just getting a small taste for the types of impacts that we expect to worsen under climate change.”
Both land and ocean were the hottest a June has seen. But the globe’s sea surface — 70% of Earth’s area — has set monthly high-temperature records in April, May, and June, and the North Atlantic has been warm since mid-March, scientists say. The Caribbean region smashed previous records, as did the United Kingdom.
According to NOAA, the first half of 2023 has been the third hottest January through June, behind 2016 and 2020.
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