May was Earth's hottest month ever on record

Updated
May was the hottest month ever on Earth
May was the hottest month ever on Earth

The average temperature on Earth in May was 15.54C - making it the warmest month since records began in 1880.

The statistic came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and showed that May was 0.74 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century world average.,

It also showed that last month was especially hot in Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Spain, South Korea and Australia, reports the Daily Telegraph.

According to the USA Today, the report noted: "The majority of the world experienced warmer-than-average monthly temperatures, with record warmth across eastern Kazakhstan, parts of Indonesia and central and northwestern Australia.

"Scattered sections across every major ocean basin were also record warm."

Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Georgia Tech, told the Telegraph there is a good chance global heat records will keep falling because an El Nino weather event is brewing for next year, on top of man-made global warming.

An El Nino sees the warming of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that alters climate worldwide and usually sparks a boost in global temperatures.

The two warmest years on record, 1998 and 2010, occurred during El Ninos.

The Climate Prediction Centre estimates that there is about a 70 per cent chance that El Nino conditions will develop during the summer of 2014 and an 80 per cent chance it will develop during the autumn and winter.



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