Global Warming Update

April Global Temperature Change*

April Rankings:  1880 -  2019 Temperature Reocrd

Comparisons with 20th Century Global Average Surface Temperature
(Temperatures are not compared here with a pre-industrial baseline)

*Surface temperature changes relative to 20th Century global average (1901 - 2000)
Source data  NOAA-NCEI State of the Climate: Global Analysis  [Web + data download]

For a second consecutive month, the global land and ocean surface temperature was the second highest for April since global records began in 1880. April's temperature departure of 0.93°C (1.67°F) above the 20th century average ranked second to April 2016 (+1.08°C / +1.94°F). April 2019 marks the 412th consecutive month and the 43rd consecutive April with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th century average. The global land and ocean temperature for April tied with September 2015 as the 11th highest monthly temperature departure from average among all months (1,672 months) on record. The 10 highest monthly temperatures departures from average have all occurred since 2015.

Above-average temperatures were present across much of the world's land and ocean surfaces. The most notable warm temperature departures from average were present across Greenland, Scandinavia, and northern and central Asia, where temperatures were 3.0°C (5.4°F) above average or higher. Record warm April temperatures were present across parts of Asia, Greenland, Scandinavia, Barents Sea, central Africa, and the Atlantic, western Indian, and the south Pacific oceans. The most notable cool temperature departures from average were present across Canada and the southern ocean off the southern coast of Australia, where temperature departures from average were 1.0°C (1.8°F) below average or cooler. No land or ocean areas had record cold April temperatures. [NOAA/NCEI global analysis accessed May 21, 2019].  

"The science is sobering—the global temperature in 2012 was among the hottest since records began in 1880. Make no mistake: without concerted action, the very future of our planet is in peril."

~ Christine Lagarde, in 2012
Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
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NOAA/NCEI annual global analysis for 2018: 

The 2017 average global temperature across land and ocean surface areas was 0.84°C (1.51°F) above the 20th century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F), behind the record year 2016 (+0.94°C / +1.69°F) and 2015 (+0.90°C / +1.62°F; second warmest year on record) both influenced by a strong El Niño episode. The year 2017 is also the warmest year without an El Niño present in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

2017 also marks the 41st consecutive year (since 1977) with global land and ocean temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average, with the six warmest years on record occurring since 2010. Since the start of the 21st century, the global temperature has been broken five times, three of those being set back to back (2014–2016). The yearly global land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.07°C (0.13°F) per decade since 1880; however, the average rate of increase is twice as great since 1980. From 1900 to 1980 a new temperature record was set on average every 13.5 years; however, since 1981 it has increased to every 3 years.

Overall, the global annual temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.07°C (0.13°F) per decade since 1880 and at an average rate of 0.17°C (0.31°F) per decade since 1970."

[NOAA/NCEI global analysis for 2018 accessed February 18, 2019].

"Globally-averaged temperatures in 2015 shattered the previous mark set in 2014 by 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius). Only once before, in 1998, has the new record been greater than the old record by this much."

~ NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies [NASA post of January 20, 2016]

Before the end of 2015, scientists projected that average global temperature increase for 2015 will exceed 1°C above pre-industrial levels.  The years 1850-1990 are used as the pre-industrial baseline by the MET Office and Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the UK.  The MET Office released this statement in November 2015:

"This year marks an important first but that doesn't necessarily mean every year from now on will be a degree or more above pre-industrial levels, as natural variability will still play a role in determining the temperature in any given year.  As the world continues to warm in the coming decades, however, we will see more and more years passing the 1 degree marker - eventually it will become the norm."

~ Peter Stott
Head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution (MET Office)

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