August 2020 2nd-Hottest Global August On Record; Odds Of Top-Five Status - 99.9%
(Yale Climate Connections) – August 2020 was the second-warmest August since global record keeping began in 1880, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, or NCEI, reported September 14.
The month was just 0.04 degrees Celsius behind the record set in August 2016. NASA rated the month as the third-warmest August on record, and the Japan Meteorological Agency rated it as the fourth-warmest August on record. Minor differences in rankings often occur among various research groups, the result of the different techniques they use to handle data-sparse regions such as the Arctic.
The eight months of January through August were 1.03 degrees Celsius (1.85°F) above the 20th-century average, NCEI said. This ranks as the second-warmest such period on record, only 0.05 degrees Celsius (0.09°F) behind the record set in 2016. According to NCEI’s annual temperature outlook, the year 2020 has more than a 99.9% chance to rank among the five warmest years on record. If so, calendar years 2014 through 2020 would be the seven warmest years on record.
The outlook finds that 2020 has a 40% chance of displacing 2016 as the warmest year on record. These odds are based on statistical relationships rather than unfolding weather and climate events. The La Niña event now in progress (see below) will make it less likely that 2020 will break the 2016 record. […]
Global land and ocean temperature anomalies, 1880-2020. Graphic: NOAA / NCEI
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