August 2009 Second Warmest on Record Globally Global Ocean and Southern Hemisphere Temperatures Break Records

Images (click to enlarge): August 2009 global temperature departures from normal, history since 1880, and table of departures by hemisphere from National Climatic Data Center

The National Climatic Data Center preliminary analysis for August 2009, released within the last 2 hours, shows that this was the second warmest August on record globally, and the warmest for both the world's oceans and the Southern Hemisphere (land and ocean combined).

Here are some highlights for the month:

• Global land and ocean combined average temperature: 0.62°C (1.12°F) above the 20th Century average, 2nd warmest August in history behind 1998. The last below-average August was in 1978.
• Ocean temperature alone: 0.57°C (1.03°F) above average, warmest August ever
  
• Southern Hemisphere land alone and total Hemisphere: warmest August ever

For the season June-August (summer in Northern Hemisphere):

• Global land and ocean combined average temperature: 3rd warmest on record
• Ocean temperature alone: warmest on record

For the year to date, the combined land and ocean surface temperature tied with 2003 as the 5th warmest January-August on record.