Global Temperatures During August 2014 Were Highest On Record

It is now official: The summer of 2014 is the hottest that has ever been recorded in history.

According to a monthly climate report for August by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, average global temperatures across both land and sea surfaces were the highest since record-keeping began in 1880. The last below-average global temperature for August was in 1976.

Rising ocean temperatures are largely responsible for pushing land temperatures higher, the weather agency said. Record levels of warmth were recorded across much of the central and western equatorial Pacific, as well as in sections across the eastern Pacific Ocean and parts of the western Indian Ocean.

The August average global sea surface temperature was 1.17 degrees Fahrenheit (0.65 degrees Centigrade) above the 20th century average of 61.4 degrees Fahrenheit (16.4 degrees Centigrade). This not only tops the previous August record set in 2005, but the figure also beats the previous all-time record set just two months ago in June 2014.

The Northern Hemisphere saw record-high temperatures at 1.66 degrees Fahrenheit (0.92 degrees Celsius) above average, while temperatures across the Southern Hemisphere were 1.01 degrees Fahrenheit (.56 degrees Celsius) above average—the fourth highest on record for that particular region of the world.

While warmer than average temperatures were seen over most of the planet, there were still anomalies in some regions, including in the United States. But overall, the report says, 26 nations across every continent except Antarctica “had at least one station with a record high temperature for August.”

After a short cooling off period during the month of July, ocean temperatures in the regions where El Niño conditions are monitored began warming again. There is a 60 to 65 percent chance that an El Niño—a warming of Pacific Ocean temperatures which causes extreme weather events such as floods and droughts—will develop during fall and winter months in the Northern Hemisphere, NOAA scientists said.