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Last month was hottest June on record, scientists say

By Adriana Navarro, Accuweather.com
Last month saw the average global temperature rise more than 1.5 degrees over the June average in all of the 1900s, scientists said. File Photo by Armando Arorizo/EPA-EFE
Last month saw the average global temperature rise more than 1.5 degrees over the June average in all of the 1900s, scientists said. File Photo by Armando Arorizo/EPA-EFE

July 19 -- After a month of blistering heat waves across Europe, relentless rising temperatures in India and sweltering temperatures in Alaska, last month was the hottest June on record, a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The report Thursday said the average global temperature in June was 1.71 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average of 59.9 degrees -- the hottest in 140 years of record keeping that dates back to 1880.

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NOAA gathers these numbers through a database of actual surface weather stations around the world, including about 1,200 land stations. The stations collect surface land temperatures while buoy and ship observations take ocean surface temperatures. The conclusions use the average of the combined ocean and land temperatures.

The agency's data show nine out of the top 10 hottest Junes, every year but 2011, have occurred since 2010. The month in 1998 was the eighth hottest on record, according to NOAA.

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Last month was the 43rd consecutive June and 414th consecutive month with above-average global temperatures, NOAA scientists reported. The last month with below-average temperatures was 34 years ago during February 1985. For the January-June period, the NOAA says 2019 is the second-hottest on record, tied with 2017.

"We have seen heat waves like this in the past, but with climate change, heat waves are expected to become more common and more intense in places, even where they are relatively rare and may last longer, which will put further strain on people and agriculture," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.

Hawaii and Europe experienced their warmest June on record and Alaska saw its second-warmest, Anderson said. The rising heat over the years has also been affecting the Arctic.

"The Arctic is warming twice as much as the rest of the world, explaining the temperatures in Alaska," he added. NASA calls the Arctic warming twice as much as in the mid-latitudes "Arctic amplification."

NOAA says the impact of the record warm in June continues to be felt in the planet's coldest spots. Last month marks the 20th consecutive June with Arctic sea ice extent below average, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. For the month, the sea ice extent was at 10.5 percent below the 1981-2010 average, but still above the 2016 record low. The record for Arctic ice extent began during 1978.

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At the bottom of the world, in Antarctica, last month was the fourth consecutive June to see below-average Antarctic sea ice extent, at 8.5 percent below the 1981-2010 average -- the smallest June extent on record.

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