Get us in your inbox

August 2016 warmest month
Photograph: Courtesy CC/Flickr/bark

August was the warmest month on record. Ever.

Anna Rahmanan
Written by
Anna Rahmanan
Advertising

According to data released by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) earlier this week, last month ranked as the hottest August on record. That's not all: August actually tied with July 2016 as the hottest month ever recorded in 136 years. 

With a global average surface temperature of about 1.76 degrees Fahrenheit above average, August's temperature seems to have mimicked global trends we've been noticing since records were first kept back in 1880 (the average global temperature has risen about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since then).

August also happens to be the 11th straight month to shatter previous records, according to the Huffington Post.

Most scientists are drawing on the data to warn all about the overall effects of global warming—pointing to these month-by-month statistics to prove that climate change isn't a future problem but one that is currently affecting the planet.

"While there may be a tendency to be complacent about the recurring record temperatures, with each month come more climate-related consequences that cannot be ignored," wrote Astrid Caldas, a climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a blog post back in June.

“Monthly rankings, which vary by only a few hundredths of a degree, are inherently fragile,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of the GISS, in a statement. “We stress that the long-term trends are the most important for understanding the ongoing changes that are affecting our planet.” Schmidth explains that the above-average temperatures seem to be caused by the excess heat accumulated by the planet in response to rising levels of greenhouse gases throughout the years.

If temperatures continue to increase, 2016 might end up becoming the third consecutive year to be deemed the hottest ever recorded.

 

You may also like
You may also like
Advertising