Global Heat Wave Continues As Last June Becomes The Hottest In History

A report released by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revealed that last month was the hottest June in history.

This year's June was 0.9°C hotter than the 20th century average. It broke the record set in 2015 by 0.02°C. June 2016 also marks the 14th consecutive month of record-breaking temperatures, the longest so far in the 137-year record of NOAA.

Even the average sea surface temperature was 0.77°C above last century's monthly average.

According to the report, the countries which felt the temperature rise more are those in north-central Russia, the Russian Far East, and northern Australia, where temperature departures were 3.0°C or higher.

Meanwhile, only central and southern South America are the only land area with cooler-than-average conditions during June 2016.

The record-breaking and alarming monthly temperatures began last year in April, and was further worsened by the powerful effects of El Niño, where warm water flowed across the Pacific Ocean.

On another note, NASA agreed with NOAA's analysis, declaring the first six months of 2016 as the hottest ever recorded, with an average temperature 1.3°C warmer than the late 19th century.

"While the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific this winter gave a boost to global temperatures from October onwards, it is the underlying trend which is producing these record numbers," said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA Goddard, in the report.

Experts say increase in greenhouse gas emissions and effects of climate change--as seen from the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the wildfires terrorizing Canadian forests--can be blamed for the continuing surge in temperature.

Meanwhile, ABC reported that NASA climatologist Gavin Schmidt predicts that high temperatures will not continue until next year as El Niño ends this year and La Niña is set to begin. But that does not mean there's nothing to worry about.

"One year being warmer and one year being cooler is not really relevant, because the big impact from increased temperatures are from sustained increase of temperatures," Schmidt told the news site.