August 2016 ties July 2016 for hottest month on record

MANILA, Philippines – It’s a tie: August 2016 is officially tied with July 2016 as the hottest month on record, NASA said Monday, September 12.

Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) revealed the previous month was the warmest August in 136 years, or since record-keeping of global temperatures began.

“Although the seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July, August 2016 wound up tied with July 2016 for the warmest month ever recorded,” the GISS said.

The data came from around 6,300 meteorological stations globally, plus data from ship- and buoy-based instruments and Antarctic research stations, the GISS added.

“August 2016 was 0.16 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous warmest August in 2014,” and “0.98 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean August temperatures from 1951 to 1980,” NASA said.

Last month’s record temperatures continue the 11 consecutive months the planet has experienced “warmest months,” which started October 2015, NASA said.

“We stress that the long-term trends are the most important for understanding the ongoing changes that are affecting our planet,” GISS Director Gavin Schmidt was quoted as saying.

The year 1880 serves as the base year for global temperature measurements due to the fact that it was the year that first had enough global data collected about planetary temperatures. – Rappler.com