Still Waiting In Vain For That Temporary Global Cool Down

Once again, July, 2017 featured near record high
global temperatures

Every month this year, I keep expecting global temperatures to fall short of the record and near record high levels we keep seeing over and over again.

As I've said several times, the combination of global warming and El Nino from late 2014 into the first half of 2016 boosted temperatures across the world to heights never seen in modern times.

This year was supposed to be a bit cooler from the start. Still abnormally warm, yes, but not ridiculous.

But month after month comes in within the top three hottest on record.

July, 2017 ended up coming in the hottest or second hottest on record for the world, depending on who you ask and who's measuring.

I usually go by NOAA, who declared July the second hottest global July on record. That's especially remarkable because the global heat hasn't waned at all even though El Nino ended a long time ago.

It's still possible we might cool off slightly during the rest of the year, but so far, 2017 is the second warmest year on record. Only 2016 was hotter.

It's been at least 32 years since the world has had a normal to cooler than normal year. This was the 41st July in a row that was warmer than normal.

Usually, the Arctic skews the warm data a little bit. The Arctic has been warming faster than elsewhere on the planet, and that factors into the high global temperatures, month after month.

But this July, the Arctic managed to be a tad cooler than it's been in recent years and decades, and we still squeaked out a near-record July. Notably, Summit, Greenland had the coldest July temperature on record for the Northern Hemisphere when they got down to 27 below. Brrrr!

There were plenty of pockets with extreme heat in July, however. Shanghai, China, with 24 million people, had an all time record high of 105 degrees in July.  Another city in China, Erbaoxiang (I've never heard of it, either)  had that country's all time hottest temperature for a populated area. It got up to 123 degrees.

Spain had its all time hottest temperature on record, too, when Montoro got up to 117 degrees.

In the United States, places as far apart as Death Valley and Barrow, on the northern tip of Alaska, had their hottest Julys on record. (As noted previously, here in Vermont, July was sort of coolish.)

We'll see if August cools off. I'm not counting on it, though.