August 14, 2009, NOAA’s global temperature report shows that our Earth’s oceans are now warmer than they have been since record keeping began in the 1880s. The combined land /ocean temperature for July 2009 was 1.03 degrees above the 20th century average of 60.4 degrees F or the fifth warmest ever recorded. The global ocean temperature was 1.06 degrees F above the 20th century average of 61.5 and beats the previous record set during the last super-El Nino of 1998. The global land surface temperature for July 2009 was 0.92 degrees above the 20th century average and tied with 2003 as the ninth-warmest July on record. The January through
For the year to date, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature of 57.9° F tied with 2004 for the sixth-warmest on record. July 2009 was the 33rd consecutive July with an average global land and ocean surface temperature above the 20th century average. The last July for the temperature to be below average was in 1976.
NOAA News
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090814_julyglobalstats.html