The Northern Hemisphere of the Earth had its hottest summer on record in 141 years: the 3-month season, from June to August 2020, was the hottest meteorological summer, surpassing the previous two hottest ones, those of 2019. and 2016. For the world as a whole it was the third hottest summer season.
As for the month of August alone, it was the second hottest ever recorded for the world.
In general, the hottest ten months of August have been recorded since 1998 with the five hottest since 2015.
This is said by scientists from the National Centers for Environmental Information at Noaa (the US National Agency specializing in oceanography and atmospheric issues) , according to which 2020 looks set to be among the five hottest years ever.
In particular, the scientists explain that in August the global average temperature of the land and ocean surface was 0.94 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average, which was 15.6 degrees, making it the second warmest August after that of 2016. The Northern Hemisphere had its hottest August ever recorded since the measurements, with a temperature difference from the average of 1.19 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous record set in August 2016. For the Earth as a whole, the three summer months of 2020 placed third in the ranking of the record of heat, with 0.92 degrees above the average of the 20th century.
More specifically, Arctic sea ice continued to decline: the average extent of Arctic sea ice in August was the third smallest ever recorded, 29.4% below the 1981-2010 average, according to the analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Antarctic sea ice extent remained near-normal, with its largest coverage since 2016. North America as a whole had its hottest August on record, beating the previous record set in 2011. Finally, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean region had the hottest January-August period on record.
South America's year-to-date average temperature was ranked the second warmest on record.
