Scientists in the US say the world experienced the hottest June on record last month.
The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces last month was the highest logged in 136 years.
Temperatures in June 2015, at 0.88°C above the 20th century average of 15.5°C, surpassed the previous record set just one year ago by 0.12°C.
Unusually high temperatures were also logged in February, March and May of this year.
Land records
The global land temperature in June was 14.56°C. That's 1.26°C above the 20th century average of 13.3°C and the highest June temperature over land on record.
The previous record was set in 2012 at 14.5°C.
Researchers behind the report say their institution, the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, holds one of the most significant weather archives on Earth.
According to them, large parts of the earth's land surface were warmer than average last month, with records set across the western United States, parts of northern South America, several regions in central to western Africa, central Asia around and to the east of the Caspian Sea, and parts of southeastern Asia.
Climate change deniers should note that this new record broke the last new record set just the previous month for the periord June 2014–May 2015. It seems the world really is getting hotter.
Ireland was hot too
Met Éireann stats for June show we were largely in line with the rest of the world. However, our temperatures were a little lower than average by up to one degree in parts.
The month’s lowest mean air temperature was 11.7°C recorded at both Knock Airport, Co Mayo and at Malin Head, Co Donegal.
But the warmest day of the year (so far) was the final day of June with the Phoenix Park in Dublin registering 25.6°C, its highest for June since 1996. Malin Head, Co Donegal reported a maximum of 24.7°C on the 30th, its highest for June since 1978.
The Met Éireann report also shows nearly all stations had rainfall totals below their Long-Term Average.
Dublin stations and isolated stations in the South and Southeast in particular enjoyed a ‘dry spell’ (defined by the Met Office as a period of 15 or more days to none of which is credited 1.0 mm or more rainfall) of varying lengths between the 6th and 26th.
An Irish Summer
Meanwhile, two Irish guys and their take on summer in Ireland are enjoying some success on YouTube.
