Last month was the hottest August in more than 100 years, scientists reveal

Scientists claim that last month was the hottest August ever recorded on Earth since 1880. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, August 2015 registered a temperature of 0.88 degrees Celsius, which is above the 20th century average of 15.6 degrees Celsius. This temperature, which also broke the previous warmest August in 2014, signals the sixth month this year that has broken its monthly temperature record, NOAA said.

NOAA stated previously that July 2015 was the single hottest month worldwide since record-keeping was started in 1880. The temperature in July was recorded at 0.81 degrees Celsius, also above the 20th century average and higher than the previous hottest months of July 1998 and July 2010. July is typically the hottest month of the year.

The agency also explained that there are signs of warmer temperatures starting to affect Antarctica. “Antarctic sea ice extent during August 2015 was 30,000 square miles or 0.5 percent below the 1981 to 2010 average. This marks a shift from recent years when Antarctic sea ice extent was record and near-record large. This is the first month since November 2011 that the Antarctic sea ice extent was below average,” NOAA said.

The U.S., Mexico, South America, Africa, Europe and parts of eastern Asia experienced much warmer than average conditions, according to the Land and Ocean Temperature Percentiles map. On the other hand, the UK was cooler than average in August with a national mean temperature of 14.7 degrees Celsius.

With global surface temperatures remaining at or near record-warm levels throughout the year, NOAA estimated a 97 percent probability that 2015 may eclipse 2014 as the warmest year on record, perhaps by a relatively large margin.

Previously, the Met Office claimed that the slowdown in global warming is likely to end within two years, pushing temperatures to record highs in 2015 and 2016. Their research predicts that the world has entered what could be one of the strongest El Niño events in the past century, which is a change to the climate system that increases the world’s temperature by warming the Pacific Ocean. This phenomenon can be hugely damaging, causing droughts and extreme weather all over the world.

According to Met Office, it is now likely that decadal warming rates will reach late 20th century levels in the next couple of years. In addition to potentially pushing the world into record temperatures, El Niño has already weakened the Indian monsoon season, increasing the risk of droughts in South Africa, Indonesia and Australia.

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