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August Was Earth's 15th Straight Record Month [1]
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Date: 2024-09-12
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At a Glance Newly released data showed the planet had its warmest August on record.
It was the 15th consecutive month that a global heat record was set in NOAA's data.
It was also the Northern Hemisphere's hottest summer on record.
2024 is likely to be the planet's warmest year, topping 2023. Sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletter to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.
August was Earth's warmest on record, continuing a year-plus stretch of monthly heat marks, making 2024 likely to be the planet's hottest, according to just-released data.
August record, by a nose: In a report released Thursday, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information calculated August's globally averaged temperature was 2.29 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, just 0.02 degrees warmer than last August, the previous warmest in their dataset dating to 1850.
August mean global surface air temperature departures from average from 1850 through 2024. The anomalies from 2023 and 2024 are highlighted. (NOAA/NCEI)
While NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies also found August 2024 was about 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than August 2023, they noted that given uncertainties in the analysis, it "effectively ties August 2023."
Earlier this month, the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) also found August 2024 tied 2023 as the planet's hottest August in their analysis of data dating to 1979.
Globally averaged temperature data is synthesized from measurements taken by weather stations, ships, aircraft and satellites.
The streak: August was the 15th straight month that Earth set a new warmth record for that month in NOAA's data, a streak that started in June 2023.
According to NOAA, that topped the previous mark of 13 straight record-warm months, from May 2015 through May 2016.
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Each line on this graph shows departure from 1980-2015 average global temperatures in degrees Celsius, color-coded by decade, from 1880 through August 2024; last month's anomaly is highlighted at the top of the graph. (NASA/GISS)
August's notables: Australia and Europe each had their hottest August on record. Among European countries, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and Spain each had a record-hot August.
Canada also topped its previous August record from 2022, while South Korea didn't just shatter its August record, but also had its hottest single month.
The planet's oceans came up just shy of an August record set in 2023, according to both NOAA and C3S. Despite that, parts of the Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, Pacific and Southern oceans were still record-warm for any August.
Alaska-based climatologist Brian Brettschneider noted the Mediterranean Sea in August had an average monthly temperature of over 82 degrees Fahrenheit, the first time that happened in any month.
Advertisement Only parts of southern South America, Siberia and western Alaska were chillier than average in August.
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This map shows August 2024 global temperature percentiles. Areas record warm for any previous August in 2024 are shown in the darkest red. (NOAA/NCEI)
A summer to remember: Both NOAA and C3S also calculated the Northern Hemisphere had its hottest summer – June through August – on record, nudging above that from 2023.
Europe topped its previous record-hottest summer from 2022 by about 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit, while Asia topped their record set one year ago. Africa also had its warmest June-August period, topping their record from 2023.
Several U.S. states, and parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, also had their record-hottest summer.
It wasn't just the warmth. Brettschneider also found the global average dew point, a measure of moisture in the air near the Earth's surface, set a record for any June-August period dating to 1940.
The horserace is virtually decided: Unlike last year, 2024 began with a strong El Niño already established. While that El Niño is long gone, 2024 is still pacing well ahead of both 2023 and 2016 by just over 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit through August.
With only four months left, NOAA's August climate summary calculated a 97% chance that 2024 will be the planet's record-warmest year, topping 2023.
C3S said a drop in temperature anomalies over the last four months of a magnitude that has not happened in their data since 1940 would be needed to avoid a record-hottest year in 2024.
Year-to-date departures from the 20th-century average (in degrees Celsius) of 2024 (top black line) compared to the 10 warmest years on record in NOAA's database. (NOAA/NCEI)
MORE ON WEATHER.COM
- La Niña Expected To Emerge
- These U.S. States Sizzled Through Their Hottest Summer
- Great Salt Lake Is Drying, Contributing To Climate Change
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on X (formerly Twitter), Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.
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[1] Url:
https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2024-09-12-record-warmest-august-2024-earth
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