April breaks heat records

LAST month was the hottest April in modern history, marking the 12th consecutive month that global heat records have been shattered, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA,美國國家海洋暨大氣總署).

“The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for April 2016 was the highest for the month of April in the NOAA global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880,” the agency said.

“This marks the 12th consecutive month the monthly global temperature record has been broken, the longest such streak in the 137-year record.”

The report, issued each month by NOAA, also pointed to a concerning spike in temperature last month, compared to the 20th century average. The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for April was 1.10C above the 20th century average of 13.7C.

This marked “the highest temperature departure for April since 1880”.

Overall, 13 of 15 of these record spikes, or monthly temperature departures, have occurred since February 2015, signalling that global warming is accelerating.

Unusually warm temperatures were seen across much of the world, but particularly in Russia (俄羅斯) and Alaska (阿拉斯加), where temperatures were 3.0C or more above average, said NOAA.

An “exceptional heat wave” swept across the Indochina peninsula (中南半島), and Cambodia (柬埔寨), Laos (老撾), Maldives (馬爾代夫 ), and Thailand (泰國 ) also set new national maximum temperature records for April, the report said.

Cooler than average weather was seen last month in northeastern Canada (加拿大) and southern South America (南美洲).

(This article is published on The Student Standard on 24 May 2016)

Global analysis – February 2016
https://goo.gl/lsWupN

Record temperatures tip by weather man
http://goo.gl/ienFkV