Ag Weather Forum

Relentless warming continues worldwide. The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Global Climate Assessment for August 2024 notes that August was the 15th consecutive month of record-setting global temperatures, along with featuring the second lowest world sea ice coverage on record. Official temperature records date back to 1850.

New temperature records were set globally for both August and the first eight months of the 2024 calendar year. During August, much of the globe had above-normal temperatures; Europe had its warmest August on record. Australia and Oceania also were record-warm in August. The period from January to August 2024 was the warmest on record globally, with South America, Europe and Africa experiencing their highest temperatures for that time frame.

The difference between August temperatures and the long-term average was significant. The NOAA NCEI report notes: "The August global surface temperature was 2.29 degrees F (1.27 degrees C) above the 20th-century average of 60.1 degrees F (15.6 degrees C), making it the warmest August on record. This marks the 15th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, which is itself a record. According to NCEI's Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a 97% chance that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record."

Only Alaska, eastern Russia, southern South America, Central Africa and West-Central Asia had average or below-average temperatures in August.

Warm conditions were not confined to the low levels of the atmosphere, either. Global warmth is prevalent farther up as well. According to the August 2024 world climate report, the mid-troposphere level in the atmosphere (approximately 2-6 miles above the Earth's surface) was record warm in August, according to satellite data from the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS). Each of the past 14 months set global records for the mid-troposphere.

Snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere was near average in August. However, the global sea ice extent was the second smallest in the 46-year record. The global sea ice extent was 8.32 million square miles, which was 1.05 million square miles below the 1991–2020 average. Arctic sea ice extent was below average (by 470,000 square miles), ranking fourth lowest on record, and Antarctic extent was also below average (by 580,000 square miles), ranking second lowest on record. The world's ocean temperatures were second warmest on record for August and the warmest on record for the January through August period.

World tropical cyclone activity in August was near the 1991-2020 average with 15 named storms. The storms that did form brought notable damage. Hurricanes Debby and Ernesto brought heavy rain and flooding to South Carolina. Cyclone Asna in the north Indian Ocean produced heavy rain, flooding and dozens of deaths in India. Typhoon Shanshan was a flooding-rain maker in Japan. Flooding rains were also disastrous in Central Africa, Bangladesh and northeastern China.

The U.S. had its fourth-warmest meteorological summer (June-July-August) on record, with record heat logged in many cities across the West, South and East Coast. The NCEI notes that for the January to August period, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 56.9 degrees F, 3.0 degrees F above average, ranking second warmest on record.

The full NOAA/NCEI Global Climate Report is available here: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/…

Bryce Anderson can be reached at bryce.anderson@dtn.com

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