Climate Scientists: July Was Earth’s Hottest Month On Record

<p>(Courtesy NOAA)</p>
<p>July 2015 Blended Land & Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies in °C.</p>
Photo: Quelccaya Ice Cap. Climate Change (AP Photo)
In this June 5, 2015 photo, shows a view of the Quelccaya Ice Cap, in Peru. The Quelccaya Ice Cap is the world's largest tropical glacier. Climate change threatens the complete disappearance of the Andes' tropical glaciers within the next 20 years, putting precious water, energy and food sources at risk.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That's a large margin for weather records.

Records go back to 1880, but nine of the 10 hottest months on record have happened since 2005. The first seven months of 2015 are the hottest January-to-July span on record.

Graphic: Earth Temps (NOAA)
July 2015 Blended Land & Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies in °C.

Other NOAA data points:

  • Austria saw its hottest July since the country began collecting data in 1767.
  • France had its third warmest July in 116 years of keeping records.
  • January through July 2015 saw the warmest seven-month ever across the world's land and ocean surfaces.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientist Jake Crouch says it is quite likely that 2015 will end up the hottest year on record, beating last year and reaffirming that the Earth is warming, with a boost this year from an El Nino warming of the Pacific Ocean.