WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth dialed the heat up last month, smashing warm temperature records for both the month and the first half of the year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calculated that world’s average temperature in June hit 61.48 degrees Fahrenheit (16.33 Celsius), breaking the old record set last year by 0.22 degrees (.12 degrees Celsius).
NOAA climate scientist Jessica Blunden said usually temperature records are broken by one or two one-hundredths of a degree, not nearly a quarter of a degree. Records go back 136 years.
The first six months of 2015 were one-sixth of a degree warmer than the old record, set in 2010, averaging 57.83 degrees (14.35 Celsius).
Blunden said “there is almost no way that 2015 isn’t going to be the warmest on record.”
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