Last August was the hottest August ever recorded

Last month was the warmest August since official temperature records started being kept 136 years ago, according to a monthly evaluation of global temperatures by researchers at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

Even though the seasonal temperature cycle normally hits its zenith in July, August 2016 ended up tied with July 2016 for the hottest month ever recorded. August 2016’s temperature was 0.16 degrees Celsius warmer than the preceding warmest August in 2014. This past August also was 0.98 degrees Celsius warmer than the average August temperature from 1951 to 1980.

“Monthly rankings, which vary by only a few hundredths of a degree, are inherently fragile,” Gavin Schmidt, a director at GISS, said in a statement. “We stress that the long-term trends are the most important for understanding the ongoing changes that are affecting our planet.”

A terrifying trend

The record August was the 11th consecutive month of record average highs for the planet, dating back to October 2015. The monthly evaluation by the GISS team is put together from publicly available information acquired via approximately 6,300 meteorological stations around the planet, ship- and buoy-based instruments gauging sea surface temperature, and Antarctic study stations. Modern global temperature records start around 1880 because past data didn’t cover an adequate amount of the planet.

Speaking to the New York Times, Schmidt said both increasing levels of carbon dioxide and the El Nino weather pattern have contributed to the string of record highs.

“But we’ve had El Niños before, they haven’t given us the record-warm temperatures like this,” Schmidt said.

The NASA scientist advised against putting an excessive amount of significance on monthly rankings and accentuated the long-term warming development is more noteworthy.

“This year really does stand out in comparison with all the other years,” Schmidt said.

The string of record highs may end if a weather pattern referred to as La Niña, involving sea surface temperatures dropping below normal, shows its head soon, but Schmidt said it’s not yet determined that will manifest. Even if a La NIna does form, it is not going to stop 2016 from becoming the warmest year on record.

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Image credit: Thinkstock

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