12 Straight Months of Record Warm Global Temperatures... Sets a Record
Broken records are becoming a broken record. May was the hottest May ever, capping an unprecedented year-long stretch of records.
Global warming used to generate records now and then. Now, record warmth, and more of it each year, are just the norm. The average global surface temperature in May 2024 was the warmest ever recorded for May, based on records going back to the 1880s. The record month is part of a new streak, the first time 12 months in a row have set long-term records, NASA announced today. The previous longest stretch of record months was seven.
“We’re experiencing more hot days, more hot months, more hot years,” Kate Calvin, NASA’s chief scientist and senior climate advisor, said in a statement. “We know that these increases in temperature are driven by our greenhouse gas emissions and are impacting people and ecosystems around the world.”
The past 10 years have been the warmest on record. Some detail, per NASA:
The average global temperature over the past 12 months was 2.34 degrees Fahrenheit (1.30 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century baseline (1951 to 1980). This is slightly over the 2.69 degree Fahrenheit (1.5 degree Celsius) level with respect to the late 19th century average.