May Global Temperature Warmest on Record
Posted by feww on June 17, 2010
Spring and January-May also post record breaking temps: NOAA
June 2010 could also prove be the warmest on record, by a large margin: Fire Earth
The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for May, March-May (Northern Hemisphere spring-Southern Hemisphere autumn), and the period January-May, NOAA reported. Worldwide average land surface temperature for May and March-May was the warmest on record while the global ocean surface temperatures for both May and March-May were second warmest on record, behind 1998.
Global Temp Highlights: May 2010
- The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for May was 0.69°C (1.24°F) above the 20th century average of 14.8°C (58.6°F).
- Land surface temperature was the warmest on record, 1.04°C (1.87°F) higher than 20th century average of 11.1°C (52.0°F).
- Ocean temperature was the second warmest on record (after 1998) at 16.3°C (61.3°F), 0.99°F (0.55°C) above the 20th century average.
- The warmest temperature anomalies occurred in eastern North America, eastern Brazil, Eastern Europe, southern Asia, eastern Russia, and equatorial Africa.
- The Chinese province of Yunnan had its warmest May since 1951.
- Many locations in Ontario, Canada had their warmest May on record.
- Anomalously cool conditions were present across western North America, northern Argentina, interior Asia, and Western Europe. Germany had its coolest May since 1991 and its 12th coolest May on record.
Temperature anomalies May 2010. Source NOAA. Click image to enlarge.
Global Highlights – March-May 2010
- The combined global land and ocean surface average temperature for the March-May period was 14.4°C (58.0°F), the warmest such period on record, and 1.31°F (0.73°C) above the 20th century average of 56.7°F (13.7°C).
- Global land surface temperature for March-May was the warmest on record at 1.22°C (2.20°F) above the 20th century average of 8.1°C (46.4 °F).
- Global ocean surface temperature was the second warmest March-May on record (behind 1998) at 0.55°C (0.99°F) above the 20th century average of 16.1°C (61.0°F).
- The temperatures were very warm across eastern and northern North America, northern Africa, Eastern Europe, southern Asia, and parts of Australia.
- Tasmania tied its warmest March-May period on record.
- The Northeastern U.S. also had its warmest March-May period on record.
- Conversely, cool temperatures enveloped the western U.S. and eastern Asia.
- Western Europe was particularly dry for its spring season.
- The United Kingdom experienced its driest spring in 26 years, and the 12th driest since 1910, when UK records began.
Temperature anomalies March-May 2010. Source NOAA. Click image to enlarge.
Other Highlights
- Arctic sea ice covered an average of 5.06 million square miles (13.1 million square kilometers) in May 2010, which was 3.7 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent and the ninth-smallest May footprint since records began in 1979.
- Arctic sea ice melted 50 percent faster than the average May melting rate, the National Snow & Ice Data Center reported.
- Antarctic sea ice extent in May was 7.3 percent above the 1979-2000 average, resulting in the fourth largest May extent on record.
- Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during May 2010 was a record low at 4.3 million square kilometers below the long-term average. North America and Eurasia both had record-low snow extents for the month.
- Northern Hemisphere March-May snow cover extent was fourth smallest on record.
- The North American (including Greenland) snow cover extent for spring (March-May) 2010 was the smallest on record.
See also: May 2010 Global State of the Climate – Supplemental Figures and Information
Related Links:
Fire Earth 
N.R. said
Global Temperature Analysis – June 2016
Warmer to much-warmer-than-average conditions dominated across much of the globe’s surface, resulting in the highest temperature departure for June since global temperature records began in 1880. This was also the 14th consecutive month the monthly global temperature record has been broken—the longest such streak in NOAA’s 137 years of record keeping. The June 2016 combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces was 0.90°C (1.62°F) above the 20th century average, besting the previous record set in 2015 by 0.02°C (0.04°F). June 2016 marks the 40th consecutive June with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average. The last time June global land and ocean temperatures were below average was in 1976 (-0.07°C / -0.13°F). June 2016 tied with March 2015 as the ninth highest monthly temperature departure among all months (1,638) on record. Overall, 14 of the 15 highest monthly temperature departures in the record have all occurred since February 2015, with January 2007 among the 15 highest monthly temperature departures. June 2016 also marks the 378th consecutive month with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average. The last month with temperatures below the 20th century average was December 1984 (-0.09°C / -0.16°F).
The majority of the world’s land surface had warmer to much-warmer-than-average temperatures during June 2016, with the largest temperature departures observed across much of north-central Russia, the Russian Far East, and northern Australia where temperature departures were 3.0°C (5.4°F) or higher. Record warmth was sporadically across parts of the southwestern contiguous U.S., southern Mexico, northeastern Brazil, northeastern and southwestern Africa, the Middle East, northern Australia, and Indonesia. The only land area with cooler-than-average conditions during June 2016, according to the percentiles map, was central and southern South America. No land areas had a record cold temperature during June 2016. According to NCEI’s Global Regional Analysis, five of six continents had at least a top five warm June, with North America observing a record high average temperature for June.
Averaged as a whole, the global temperature across land surfaces for June 2016 was 1.24°C (2.23°F) above the 20th century average—tying with 2015 as the highest June temperature in the 1880–2016 record. June 2016 marks the 34th consecutive June with temperatures at least nominally above average. The last time global land surface temperatures were below average in June was in 1982 (-0.05°C / -0.09°F).
The worldwide ocean surface temperature during June 2016 was 0.77°C (1.39°F) above the 20th century average, the highest global ocean temperature for June in the 137-year record. This value surpassed the previous record set in 2015 by 0.03°C (0.05°F). June 2016 was the 10th highest departure from average among all 1,638 months in the record. June 2016 marks the 40th consecutive June with global ocean temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average. The 12 highest monthly global ocean temperature departures have all occurred in the past 12 months.
Six record warm monthly global temperatures during the first half of 2016 resulted in the highest global land and ocean average temperature for January–June at 1.05°C (1.89°F) above the 20th century average, besting the previous record set in 2015 by 0.20°C (0.36°F).
January–June 2016 was characterized by warmer to much-warmer-than-average conditions engulfing most of the world’s land and ocean surfaces. Record warmth was widespread across Alaska, western Canada, southern Mexico, northern South America, central Africa, Indonesia, northern and eastern Australia, North Indian Ocean, and across parts of north-central Russia, western Asia, central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, the southwestern Pacific Ocean, and the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for June 2016, published online July 2016, retrieved on July 22, 2016 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201606.