In the monthly report released on Monday, scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information noted that the average global surface temperature in July was 1.21 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average of 15.8 degrees Celsius. This made it the warmest July in NOAA’s 175-year global record.
Temperatures were above average across much of the global land surface, except for Alaska, southern South America, eastern Russia, Australia, and western Antarctica, the report stated. Africa, Asia, and Europe experienced their warmest Julys on record, while North America saw its second-warmest July.
The report also found that the global ocean temperature in July was the second warmest on record, breaking a streak of 15 consecutive months of record-high ocean temperatures.
Additionally, the report highlighted that the year-to-date global surface temperature was 1.28 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average, making it the warmest year-to-date global surface temperature on record.
According to NOAA’s Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, there is a 77 percent chance that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record, with nearly a 100 percent chance it will rank in the top five.