Earth’s fever shows no sign of breaking.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), August 2016 was the 16th consecutive month of record temperatures for the planet. The global land and ocean temperature for the month was 0.92 C above the 20th century average of 15.6 C — the highest for the month of August in the 137 years they’ve been keeping records.
READ MORE: July was Earth’s hottest month on record
Individually, the land surface temperature was a whopping 1.29 C higher than the average, also setting a record. As for our oceans, temperatures were 0.77 C above the average, second-highest for the month behind 2015 which was just 0.02 C warmer.
The previous records, in both cases, were set in 2015, which was the warmest year for our planet in human history.
And, while not every region of the planet experienced the same anomalies, Canada did. NOAA noted that in Ontario, temperatures were between 2 to 3 C above average. Temperatures in the province were, generally, warmer than normal from June to August.
As for the planet, the three-month average running from June to August 2016 was — you guessed it — the highest on record in the 1880-2016 period. And when was the previous record set? Last year.
It’s a disturbing trend that has climate scientists worried.
While El Niño played a role in the temperatures of 2015, climatologists said that even without it, the annual temperature would have likely broken global records. And, seeing as monthly average temperatures have been above normal, it’s likely that 2016 will break another annual record.
READ MORE: 2015 shatters record for warmest year ever
After NASA and NOAA announced last January that 2015 was the warmest on record, Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies said, “2015 was remarkable even in the context of the ongoing El Niño. Last year’s temperatures had an assist from El Niño, but it is the cumulative effect of the long-term trend that has resulted in the record warming that we are seeing.”
“Stay tuned for 2016.”
WATCH: 2015 was the warmest year on record across the globe
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