June 2016 was 1.62 degrees F above the 20th century average, breaking last year’s record for the warmest June on record by 0.04 degrees F, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. NOAA’s global temperature records dates back 137 years to 1880.
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For the year to date, the average global temperature was 1.89 degrees F above the 20th century average. This was the highest temperature for this period, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 by 0.36 degrees F. Some notable events around the world include:
The globally averaged sea surface temperature was record high for June and the year-to-date (January–June).
The globally averaged land temperature tied as record high for June, making it the 34th consecutive June with temperatures above the 20th century average. The year-to-date (January–June) average temperature was also record high.
Much warmer-than-average temperatures contributed to North America’s warmest June since continental records began in 1910.
Much warmer-than-average conditions engulfed most of Africa resulting in the second warmest June since 1910 for the continent.
The average Arctic sea ice extent for June was 11.4 percent below the 1981–2010 average. This was the smallest June extent since records began in 1979.
The average Antarctic sea ice extent for June was 40,000 square miles below the 1981–2010 average, marking the smallest June Antarctic sea ice extent since 2011 and the 13th smallest on record.
Two key climate change indicators — global surface temperatures and Arctic sea ice extent — have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016, according to NASA analyses of ground-based observations and satellite data.
Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The six-month period from January to June was also the planet’s warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the late nineteenth century.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
