(CNN) For 400 consecutive months -- that's more than 33 years -- the earth's temperature has been above average, and climatologists aren't mincing words as to why.

The dubious milestone was reported in the April edition of NOAA's monthly global climate report . The report also states that this April had the third-highest temperatures of any April since NOAA began collecting such records in 1880.

"It's mainly due to anthropogenic (human-caused) warming," NOAA climatologst Ahira Sanchez told CNN. "Climate change is real, and we will continue to see global temperatures increase in the future."

There are natural causes for warmer years, too.

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"If you were to remove the human factor, you would still see a variability, but it would be up and down," Sanchez says.

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