Global Temperature Update: June 2010 Fourth Consecutive Record Warm Month

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) preliminary monthly analysis, posted within the last hour, shows that June 2010 was the 4th consecutive month with record warm temperatures. (March, April, and May also set records.) The previous June record was set in 2005. The first half of 2010 was also the record warmest January to June period. Here are the global highlights reported by the NCDC:

• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2010 was the warmest on record at 16.2°C (61.1°F), which is 0.68°C (1.22°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F). The previous record for June was set in 2005.
• June 2010 was the fourth consecutive warmest month on record (March, April, and May 2010 were also the warmest on record). This was the 304th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last month with below-average temperature was February 1985.
• The June worldwide averaged land surface temperature was 1.07°C (1.93°F) above the 20th century average of 13.3°C (55.9°F)—the warmest on record.
• It was the warmest April–June (three-month period) on record for the global land and ocean temperature and the land-only temperature. The three-month period was the second warmest for the world's oceans, behind 1998.
• It was the warmest June and April–June on record for the Northern Hemisphere as a whole and all land areas of the Northern Hemisphere.
• It was the warmest January–June on record for the global land and ocean temperature. The worldwide land on average had its second warmest January–June, behind 2007. The worldwide averaged ocean temperature was the second warmest January–June, behind 1998.

Warmer than average temperatures were observed over large portions of nearly all continents, "with the most prominent warmth in Mexico, northern Africa, and most of Europe, Asia, South America, and the contiguous U.S." The U.S. overall was the 8th warmest on record. Cooler than average land temperatures were mainly confined to "Scandinavia, southeastern China, and the northwestern contiguous U.S. "

Ocean temperatures were warmer than average "across most of the Atlantic, Indian, and the western Pacific oceans. Meanwhile, cooler-than-average conditions were present across the eastern and equatorial Pacific Ocean, the southern oceans, and a small region in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean."

Images (click to enlarge): Global temperature departures from average for June 2010 and historical June global departures from NCDC