The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Friday that July was the Earth’s hottest month on record.
“In this case, first place is the worst place to be,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “July is typically the world’s warmest month of the year, but July 2021 outdid itself as the hottest July and month ever recorded. This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe.”
NOAA said that the average global temperature was 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit above the global 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees.
The agency said it was the hottest July since records began 142 years ago.
Last month, NOAA said the combined temperature was 0.02 of a degree Fahrenheit higher than the previous record set in July 2016, which was then tied in 2019 and 2020.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the land-surface temperature was 2.77 degrees Fahrenheit above average, the agency said.