NCDC: August 2012 Was a Warm One

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The latest update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's National Climatic Data Center states that August 2012 was one of the warmest months on record.

The latest update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's National Climatic Data Center states that August 2012 was one of the warmest months on record.

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According to the NCDC's report, this August had a global land and ocean surface temperature of 61.22°F, 1.12°F warmer than average. This report made this year's eight month, the fourth warmest August since they began keeping records in 1880. This August's global land surface temperature was also the second warmest August on record; the new record, 61.72°F, is 1.62°F above the average. In addition, the worldwide ocean surface temperature for August 2012 was 61.04°F, 0.94°F above average. This year's August temperature makes last month the fifth warmest August on record.

This warm end to meteorological summer also made some noise for other periods of time during 2012. The average combined global land and ocean surface temperature for June-August 2012 was 1.15°F above the average temperature of 60.1°F. This data notes that this period is the third warmest June-August on record since 1880. A record was broken, however, for the warmest June-August on record. This meteorological summer's globally-averaged land surface temperature of 61.95°F was 1.85°F above average.

The National Climatic Data Center also said that the first eight months of 2012 was quite warm compared to other recorded periods of time. According to the NCDC's report, the combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January–August of this year was the ninth warmest period of this dataset on record, at 1.01°F above the 20th century average.

For more information on the NCDC's August 2012 Report on the State of the Climate, please visit: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2012/8

Image Credit: Thermometer via Shutterstock