NASA has recently announced that July was the hottest month ever recorded. This is the tenth consecutive month wherein that month's all-time high was recorded.
The records began in 1880, with the previous July record being held July just 12 months earlier. NASA's results are calculated by taking sea surface temperatures and air temperatures on land.
Last month's recording showed July to be 0.11 C hotter than last year. The increase in temperature was most pronounced in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in the Arctic. Consequently, heat waves and stormy weather, such as what has been experienced in Ireland this summer, are more likely.
GISS Director Gavin Schmidt said that “It appears almost a certainty that 2016 also will be the warmest year on record."
This continuous growth has been caused by trapping greenhouse gasses within the atmosphere. Schmidt continued, “While the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific this winter gave a boost to global temperatures from October onwards, it is the underlying trend which is producing these record numbers."