August 2016 was just as much of a scorcher as July 2016, tying for the warmest month on record, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies said Monday. “Although the seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July, August 2016 wound up tied with July 2016 for the warmest month ever recorded,” a release from the institute says.
Last month was the warmest August in the 136-year record, breaking the previous record set in August 2014 by .16 degrees Celsius. “Monthly rankings, which vary by only a few hundredths of a degree, are inherently fragile,” GISS Director Gavin Schmidt said in the release. “We stress that the long-term trends are the most important for understanding the ongoing changes that are affecting our planet.”
The record-breaking month marks the 11th consecutive month to set a new monthly high-temperature record.