August 2016 Was the Planet’s Warmest August on Record
September 24, 2016
August 2016 was the planet’s warmest August since record-keeping began in 1880. That’s according to an analysis of global temperatures released Monday (September 12, 2016) by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
Although the seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July, August 2016 wound up tying July 2016 for the warmest month on record. This year is likely to be the hottest year on record, as August continued a streak of 11 consecutive months that have set new monthly high-temperature records.
The GISS monthly analysis is assembled from data from about 6,300 meteorological stations around the world, as well as ship- and buoy-based instruments measuring sea surface temperature, and Antarctic research stations. The modern global temperature record begins around 1880 because previous observations didn’t cover enough of the planet.