June 2019 is officially the warmest June on record since record-keeping began in 1880, according to new data released by NASA. And on top of this dubious distinction, the first half of 2019 was the second hottest such period on record, second only to 2016, with each of the last five January-through-June periods being the warmest in the 139-year record.

“As we have shown in recent work, the record warm streaks we’ve seen in recent years simply cannot be explained without accounting for the profound impact we are having on the planet through the burning of fossil fuels and the resulting increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations,” according to Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University.

Carbon dioxide concentrations reached 415.5 parts per million in May this year, more than 48 percent over pre-industrial levels, and the highest the planet has seen in at least 800 millennia—a period where CO2 levels, typically averaging in the low-200s, never exceeded 300 ppm—and possibly the highest in over 3 million years. The sudden acceleration in the rise CO2 levels over the past century is also unprecedented, and rivaled only by the Chicxulub meteor impact 65 million years ago.

“The latest numbers are just another reminder that the impacts of human-caused warming are no longer subtle,” Mann continues. “We’re seeing them play out in terms of both unprecedented extreme weather events and the sorts of planetary-scale temperature extremes betrayed by these latest numbers.” Recent examples of such extreme weather events include record-breaking heat waves, wildfires, flooding and an increasingly unstable polar vortex.

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6 Comments

  1. Roberto, I think you are confusing regional with global. Surely you know the difference???? Again, like Matthew F sources? (blogs are not references)

  2. You have to be careful about putting too much meaning on such numbers. The temp increase was only 0.04 deg above the record, and the tolerance on the measurement is 0.25 degrees. And these are land based measurements, so they are not everywhere, so the average can vary with wind currents just based on the sensor locations. I don’t trust the accuracy they give either. Satellite data is much more accurate but it only goes back to 1978. If you look at satellite temps it was colder before 98 (ice age fears also) and then normalized, now we are seeing increased temps but this does not follow CO2 and appears to be normal variation. There are many other factors. El Nino for one. https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/

    1. I’m not sure where you’re getting this information, the record was beaten by more than a tenth of a degree (0.11°C), and I’d like to know which organization allows tolerances as generous as a quarter degree–that’s just sloppy science, and I’d like to avoid them.

      https://earthsky.org/earth/june-2019-hottest-on-record-for-globe

      These measurements also include both land and sea-based measurements, not just land-based temperatures. (Mashable’s source):

      http://www.columbia.edu/~mhs119/Temperature/T_moreFigs/

      Modern researchers also didn’t trust pre-satellite measurements, so they’ve been working for some time now toward gathering proxy data to either back up historical measurements, or correct them where needed. Regardless, for all of the world’s pre-satellite measurements to be collectively off by nearly a full degree for a month straight, especially after modern corrections, is highly unlikely.

      If by a post-1998 normalization in global temperatures you’re referring to the so-called “global warming pause”, that was found to be a glitch in the data and never actually happened. If you’re describing something else, please correct me:

      https://www.unknowncountry.com/headline-news/the-global-warming-hiatus-may-never-have-happened-to-begin-with/
      https://www.unknowncountry.com/headline-news/the-1998-2012-global-warming-pause-didnt-happen-according-to-a-new-study/

      Barring “normal variations”–factors that are eliminated from the data when these numbers are generated–global average temperatures do indeed continue to follow increases in CO2 concentrations. As per your link (of which seems to have little to do with your post): “Global climate trend since Dec. 1 1978: +0.13 C per decade”, and the annual average CO2 concentrations are pretty much a straight line headed upward: https://www.co2.earth/

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