2014 on track to be one of the warmest years ever
August 2014 was record warm.
Staff Report
FRISCO — Planet Earth was record warm in August 2014, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists said Thursday, explaining that warm oceans continue to drive temperatures around the world to the highest levels seen since observations started more than 100 years ago.
The last time global August temperatures were below average was in 1976, and nine of the 10 warmest Augusts on record have all come in the 21st century.
The global departure from average (1.35 degrees Fahrenheit) was the largest on record for any month, and above-average temperatures were widely and evenly spread around the world, with the eastern U.S. as a notable cool area, according to the monthly State of the Climate report from the National Climatic Data Center.
The northern hemisphere was especially warm in the last month of summer, at 1.66 degrees above average, while parts of northern Australia, north- and south-central Asia and the eastern U.S. were on the cool side.
The year-to-date is the third-warmest on record, at 1.22 degrees above the 20th century average, and second-warmest for ocean temperatures along, at .99 degrees above average. The record temperatures in August also made it the warmest summer on record for the globe (1.28 degrees Fahrenheit above average) since record-keeping started in 1880.
Regionally, the Northern Hemisphere temperature across land and oceans combined was also record high for its summer season, while the Southern Hemisphere temperature was fourth highest for its winter season.
According to NOAA, 26 countries across every continent except Antarctica had at least one station reporting a record high temperature for August. The United States and the Russian Federation each had stations that reported record warm temperatures as well as at least one station with a record cold temperature for the month. One station in Antarctica also reported a record cold August temperature for its 30-year period of record.
Information compiled from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for August 2014, published online September 2014, retrieved on September 18, 2014 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/8.
