An unmistakable warming trend continued in August 2021, which was the sixth warmest August on record, according to US meteorological agency NOAA.
Details of global surface temperatures are contained in a monthly global climate report issued overnight by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information at http://www.ncei.noaa.gov.
key excerpts from the report follow.
”The August 2021 global surface temperature was 0.90°C (1.62°F) above the 20th century average of 15.6°C (60.1°F). This was the sixth warmest August on record.
“Nine of the 10 warmest Augusts have occurred since 2009. August of 1998 still ranks among the 10 warmest on record. August 2021 was also the 45th consecutive August and the 440th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th century average.”
“Averaged as a whole, the global land-only surface had a near-record high August temperature at 1.34°C (2.41°F) above average, which is only 0.04°C (0.07°F) less than the record-warm August set in 2016.
“This was mainly driven by the very warm land-only surface temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere, which had its warmest August on record at +1.44°C (+2.59°F). This value surpassed the previous record set in 2016 by 0.04°C (0.07°F).
“While the Southern Hemisphere as a whole had its fourth warmest August on record, the Southern Hemisphere ocean-only surface temperature tied with 2018 and 2019 as the second highest on record at 0.61°C (1.10°F) above average. Only August of 2016 had a warmer ocean-only surface temperature for the Southern Hemisphere.
”In Oceania, Australia's mean temperature for August was the sixth highest in the nation's 112-year record at 1.38°C (2.48°F) above the 1961–1990 average. Regionally, Queensland had a near-record warm August with a temperature departure of +2.13°C (+3.83°F), which was 1.22°C (2.20°F) cooler than the record-warm August set in 2009. Meanwhile, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania had a top 10 warm August. New Zealand's August temperature was 0.9°C (1.6°F) above the 1981–2010 average and tied as the ninth warmest August on record.”
