July 2019 was Earth’s hottest month on record →

The impacts of global climate change are now becoming clear, and the latest NOAA update for July 2019 from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration makes uncomfortable reading.

Much of our planet sweltered in unprecedented heat in July, as temperatures soared to new heights in the hottest month ever recorded. This record warmth also shrank Arctic and Antarctic sea ice to historic lows.

The July 2019 global land and ocean surface temperature departure from average was the highest for July since global records began in 1880 at 0.95°C above the 20th century average. This value surpassed the previous record set in 2016 by 0.03°C.

Nine of the 10 warmest Julys have occurred since 2005, with the last five years (2015–2019) ranking among the five warmest Julys on record. July 1998 is the only July from the 20th century to be among the 10 warmest Julys on record.

July 2019 marked the 43rd consecutive July and the 415th consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th century average. July 2016, July 2017, and July 2019 are the only Julys that had a temperature departure from average at or above 0.90°C.

Climatologically, July is Earth's warmest month of the year. With July 2019 the warmest July on record, at least nominally, this resulted in the warmest month on record for the globe.

Full details and supporting datasets are given in the NOAA Global Climate Report - July 2019