The numbers are in and, unsurprisingly, July was a hot month. July 2020 tied for the second-hottest July on record for the planet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In our own backyard, the Northern Hemisphere saw the hottest July ever, breaking the previous record set just last year.
The July 2020 global temperature was 62.06 Fahrenheit, which is 1.66 degrees above the 20th-century average. The combined land and ocean surface average temperature for the Northern Hemisphere, the highest ever recorded for July, was 2.12 degrees F above average, breaking the previous record by 0.14 degrees.
Record-hot July temperatures were also recorded across parts of southeastern Asia, northern South America, across the west and northern Pacific Ocean, the northern Indian Ocean, and parts of the Caribbean Sea.
The year-to-date global land and ocean surface temperature was the second highest in the 141 years of record keeping at 58.79 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1.89 degrees F above the 20th-century average.
So far it is been the hottest year to date on record across a large portion of northern Asia, parts of Europe, China, Mexico, northern South America, as well as the Atlantic, northern Indian and Pacific oceans.
Meanwhile, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic for July 2020 was the smallest ever measured in the 42 years of record-keeping, over 23% below the 1981-2010 average. July’s Arctic sea ice extent was smaller than the previous record (set last year) by 120,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of New Mexico.
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July 2020 was record hot for N. Hemisphere, 2nd hottest for planet
Photo, posted July 24, 2018, courtesy of Maria Eklund Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.