- Last month was the hottest August ever recorded, according to climate data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration going back 174 years.
- The three-month period from June to August was also the hottest ever recorded for that stretch.
- Additionally, sea ice extent hit a record low in every August on record.
Palestinian Mustafa Abdo, 75, repairs a fan in his shop amid a heat wave in the Shati refugee camp. Abdo has been working in the maintenance of household appliances for more than 30 years, until today.
soup images | Light rocket | fake images
Multiple heat records have been broken this summer.
Last month was the hottest August ever recorded, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records dating back 174 years. The three-month period from June to August was also the hottest on record, the NOAA said Thursdayand encompassed the warmest meteorological winter ever recorded in the southern hemisphere.
Global sea surface temperatures were the highest on record for August, and it was the fifth consecutive month in which global sea surface temperatures reached new highs for each respective month.
The sea surface temperature anomaly, or measurement of the deviation from a long-term average, for August 2023 was also the largest anomaly on record.
Islamorada, Florida, July 24, 2023: At Alligator Reed in the Florida Keys, elkhorn coral transplanted to the reef now appears bleached after days of high water temperatures. Coral on Alligator Reef showed signs of bleaching that had not occurred just a week earlier.
Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times | fake images
Finally, Sea ice extent reached record low in August for all Augusts on record, 550,000 square miles below the previous record set in August 2019. Sea ice area is the total region covered by ice, while “extent” refers to the total region with at least 15 percent percent sea ice cover.
Global marine heat waves and the El Niño weather pattern contributed to all extreme temperature records in 2023, NOAA Chief Scientist Sarah Kapnick, said in a statement issued Thursday.
“But as long as emissions continue to drive continued background warming, we expect new records to be broken in the coming years,” Kapnick said.
Record-breaking air and water temperatures contributed to extreme weather conditions around the world in August, including monsoon rains in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. NOAA summarized these events in the graphic below.
NOAA and the National Centers for Environmental Information mapped out some of the August 2023 climate anomalies.
Graphic courtesy of NOAA and the National Centers for Environmental Information.