The U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports global temperatures for the month of May 2020 are tied with May 2016 as the warmest on record.
In its monthly Global Climate Report released this week, NOAA said the 10 warmest Mays – in terms of land and ocean surface temperatures - in the 141 years since records have been kept, have occurred since 1998. The report also says the last seven Mays, dating back to 2014, have been the warmest on record.
NOAA says last month marked the 44th consecutive May, and the 425th consecutive month in which temperatures were higher than at this time a century ago.
The agency reports the areas with the biggest departures from average temperatures included northern and southeastern Asia, northern Africa, Alaska, the southwest contiguous United States, and the northern Pacific Ocean, where readings were at least 1.5°C above the 1981-2010 average.
NOAA says May 2020 was also the warmest on record for global land-only surface temperatures at 1.39°C above the 20th century average of 11.1°C (52.0°F). The 10 highest May global land-only surface temperature departures have occurred since 2010.
