May was the warmest on record: US govt data

Many climate scientists believe that Earth's surface is warming, due to the emission of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

In addition to a record-hot May, high temperature surface records were set for the period of March through May and for January through May, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement.

Looking only at global land surface temperatures on average, May and the March-to-May period were also the warmest on record.

Global ocean surface temperatures for both May and March-to-May were the second-hottest on record, behind 1998.

The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for May was 59.84 F (15.46 C), which was 1.24 degrees F (0.69 C) above the 20th century average of 58.6 F (14.8 C).

The global land surface temperature for May was 53.87 F (12.15 C), which was 1.87 F (1.04 C) above the 20th century average of 52 degrees F (11.1 degrees C) - the warmest on record.

The May worldwide ocean temperature, the second-warmest ever recorded after 1998, was 62.29 F (16.82 C), compared with the 20th century average of 61.3 F (16.3 C).

Most of Earth's land areas saw extraordinary warm temperatures, with the hottest showing up in places such as eastern North America and eastern Brazil.

It was unusually cool across western North America, northern Argentina, interior Asia and Western Europe.

Reuters