Earth Breaks 6-Month Heat Record

The first half of this year was the warmest six months ever recorded globally and July is likely to set a record as well, federal climate experts said Tuesday.

“There is no time in recorded data history that we have seen this sequence of record-setting for six consecutive months,” said James Baker, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He called the findings “remarkable and sobering.”

Tom Karl, the NOAA’s senior climate researcher, said the monthly data, along with other evidence, including the fact that 1997 was the warmest year on record, provide “compelling evidence” that global temperatures are on a long-term warming track.

The temperatures in all six months were the highest near-surface temperatures ever recorded for those months over both land and water, the NOAA said. The records go back more than 100 years.