01:04 July Was Warmest Month in History A new report from NOAA says July was the hottest month in recorded history across the globe.

At a Glance July 2019 was the planet's warmest month on record, according to NOAA.

The hottest regions on Earth relative to average included Alaska, southern Asia and southern Africa.

The warmth occurred despite the absence of a strong El Niño event.

Other organizations also concluded July 2019 was Earth's hottest month.

July 2019 was Earth's hottest month in 140 years of recordkeeping, according to a just-released analysis from NOAA.

The agency said Thursday that global average temperatures across all land and ocean surfaces in July were the highest of any month in its database , which extends back to 1880.

The month's global average temperature was 1.71 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees. That topped July 2016 , the previous all-time-hottest month, by 0.05 degrees.

July is typically the warmest month of the year globally, running about 5 to 7 degrees warmer than January. This is because most of the planet’s land area – which warms faster than oceans – is located in the Northern Hemisphere, so the northern summer coincides with the warmest global average.

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Portions of North America, southern Asia, southern Africa, the northern Indian Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and western and northern parts of the Pacific Ocean had record-hot July temperatures, according to NOAA. Temperatures were much cooler than average over parts of far western Russia.

No land or ocean areas had record-cold temperatures in July.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/july-2019-global-temperature-percentiles-map.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/july-2019-global-temperature-percentiles-map.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/july-2019-global-temperature-percentiles-map.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > July 2019 land and ocean surface-temperature departures from average. Darker red/blue colors indicate areas that were progressively warmer/cooler than the 20th-century average. (NOAA/NCEI)

Nine of the 10 hottest Julys on Earth have occurred since 2005. The last five Julys (2015-19) were the five hottest on record. July 1998 was the only one in the top-10 that occurred in the previous century.

July 2019 also marked the 415th consecutive month and 43rd straight July that global temperatures were above the 20th-century average in NOAA's database.

2019 on Pace to be One of Earth's Hottest Years on Record

NOAA's report also concluded that the first seven months of 2019 tied with 2017 as the second-warmest January-through-July period on record.

Global average temperatures across all land and ocean surfaces during that period were 1.71 degrees above the 20th-century average of 56.9 degrees. Only 2016 had a warmer start to the year through July.

The southern half of Africa and parts of North America, South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and its surrounding ocean, portions of the western Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and western Indian Ocean had record-warm January-through-July temperatures in 2019. No land or ocean areas had record-cold temperatures during that period.

Portions of the Northern Hemisphere – particularly Alaska, western Canada and central Russia – had some of the farthest-above-average temperatures between January and July. Those areas measured temperatures that were at least 3.6 degrees above average.

Much of the contiguous United States and southern Canada had temperatures that were notably cooler than average in the first seven months of the year – at least 1.8 degrees below the 20th-century average.

On a regional scale, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia had January-through-July temperatures that ranked among the five warmest such periods on record, with South America having its second-warmest year-to-date.

Other Organizations Agree July 2019 Was Earth's Hottest Month

NASA concluded that July 2019 was Earth's hottest July on record, topping July 2016 by 0.14 degrees. That places it in a virtual tie with August 2016 as the hottest month on record in its database, which also dates back to 1880.

Global average temperatures across all land and ocean surfaces in July were 1.67 degrees above the 1951-1980 July average, according to NASA's analysis.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/nasa-giss-seasonal-cycle-7.19-1080px.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/nasa-giss-seasonal-cycle-7.19-1080px.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/nasa-giss-seasonal-cycle-7.19-1080px.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > The departure from average (compared to temperatures from 1980 to 2015) of Earth’s surface temperature from 1880 through July 2019, with the seasonal cycle left in. July 2019 was in a virtual tie with August 2016 as Earth's hottest month on record in absolute terms, according to NASA's analysis. (NASA/GISS)

Across the pond, researchers at the Copernicus Climate Change Service estimated that July 2019 was the planet’s warmest month on record, narrowly topping July 2016.

The Copernicus group found the global temperature in July was about 0.07 degrees warmer than July 2016.

The Copernicus analyses extend back to 1979. Because of long-term global warming, this record is effectively a record for at least the past century of global observation.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/copernicus-7.19-anomaly-1920px.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/copernicus-7.19-anomaly-1920px.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/copernicus-7.19-anomaly-1920px.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > Departure from 1981-2010 global temperature in July 2019 July 2019 was the planet's warmest month on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Among the hottest spots relative to the 1981-2010 average were western Europe, central Asia, Alaska and most of Africa and Australia. (Copernicus/WMO)

Most global heat records are set during or just after El Niño events, which bring warm undersea water to the surface across much of the tropical Pacific, thus warming the atmosphere above.

This July’s record is especially striking because it occurred during a weak to marginal El Niño event . In contrast, the July 2016 record occurred at the tail end of one of the strongest El Niño events on record .

While El Niño and La Niña tend to warm and cool the atmosphere for a year or two each, these events are happening on top of longer-term warming related to human-produced greenhouse gases, so the global warm spikes are getting warmer and the cool spikes less cool.

"We have always lived through hot summers. But this is not the summer of our youth. This is not your grandfather’s summer ," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, commenting on Aug. 1 in New York on the likelihood of a new temperature record from Copernicus.

"Preventing irreversible climate disruption is the race of our lives, and for our lives. It is a race that we can and must win," he added.

The Copernicus analyses are carried out by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF ), which operates weather forecast models and climate prediction models used around the world. Its analyses combine global temperature data from surface weather stations with background information from a forecast model that incorporates satellite and other data. The model analysis plays a larger role in regions with few weather stations.

Different analyses of monthly global temperature (such as those from NOAA, NASA, Copernicus and the Japan Meteorological Agency ) can result in slightly different rankings, based on how groups account for data-sparse areas such as the Arctic.

Global Hot Spots in July

Dozens of European cities set new all-time high-temperature records in July, including Paris (108.7 degrees), Amsterdam (97.3 degrees) and Helsinki (91.8 degrees). Five nations confirmed their hottest temperatures ever recorded:

Belgium: 107.2 degrees at Begijnendijk, July 25

Germany: 108.7 degrees at Lingen, July 25

Luxembourg: 105.4 degrees at Steinsel, July 25

Netherlands: 105.3 degrees at Gilze Rijen, July 25

United Kingdom: 101.7 degrees at Cambridge, July 25

Another part of the world with extreme warmth relative to July norms was Alaska . At least 13 Alaska locations chalked up their hottest month on record, and the state very likely hit such a mark as well, according to climatologist Dr. Brian Brettschneider. The Anchorage airport hit 90 degrees on July 4, breaking its all-time record by 5 degrees, and the city had its warmest month on record by far.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/85alaskaheat.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/85alaskaheat.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/85alaskaheat.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" >

The Alaskan heat has coincided with record-low sea-ice extent in the Chukchi Sea to the north, as well as across the entire Arctic .

July was considerably cooler than average over parts of eastern Europe and western Russia. Much of eastern Canada and parts of the south-central U.S. were also cooler than average for July, with a dramatic cool spell in late July setting daily record lows across the South.

However, several cities in New England – including Boston – had their hottest month on record .

All-time high-temperature records have been broken this year in 13 of the world’s nations and territories, and tied in another. In contrast, no all-time national cold records have been broken thus far in 2019.

The largest number of all-time national/territorial heat records set or tied in a single year was the 22 heat records that occurred in 2016, according to international records researcher Maximiliano Herrera.

The runners-up are 2019 and 2017, each with 14 heat records.