Many northern hemisphere land areas reported near-record warmth
Most areas of the globe reported temperatures running well above the 20th century average during June 2013.
By Summit Voice
FRISCO — The Globally averaged land and sea surface temperature was 1.15 degrees above the 20th century average, tying with 2006 as the fifth-warmest on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center monthly summary report released this week.
The average land-surface temperature was even warmer. At 1.89 degrees above average, it was the third-warmest June on record over the world’s land areas. Record-setting warmth was reported from many locations in northern Canada, far northwestern Russia, southern Japan, the Philippines, part of southwestern China, and central southern Africa.
The year to-date is also running hot, tied with 2003 as the seventh-warmest January to June period on record, with a combined global land and ocean average surface temperature that was 1.06 degrees above the 20th century average.
Even without ocean-warming El Niño conditions, global sea surface temperatures for the first half of the year were 0.79 degrees above average, also ranking as the seventh-warmest January to June period on record.
Land surface temperatures during the first half of the year were even warmer, at 1.8 degrees above the 20th century average, the sixth-warmest January-June on record.
Cooler than average readings came from northeastern Canada, much of western and southern Europe, central Asia, Far East Russia, and most of India.
NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for June 2013, published online July 2013, retrieved on July 18, 2013 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2013/6.
