The Heat Goes On: World's Second Hottest July

The way things have been going this year, you will not be surprised by this post: July, on a global scale was the second hottest on record. 

Hard to find many cool spots in the world this past July.
All that red is above normal temperaures.

Each of the six past Julys are now the world's hottest. Nine of the ten hottest Julys on record have happened since 2010.  See a trend here?

All this comes from the monthly update provided by NOAA's Centers for Environmental Information. 

The northern  half of the world had its hottest July on record. We here in Vermont contributed: As previously reported, Burlington, Vermont also had its hottest July on record. 

In its July monthly report, the NCEI demonstrates how widespread the warmth was and how hard it was to find cold spots:

The warmest temperatures relative to average "were present across the North Pacific Ocean, the southwestern and northeastern contiguous United States and across parts of western Asia and eastern Antarctica.  Record warm July temperatures were widespread across the North Indian Ocean, southeastern Asia, and the western Pacific Ocean. Other areas of record warm July temperatures were present across parts of the Caribbean Sea, northern South America, North America and the North Pacific Ocean.  

Cooler than average July temperatures were limited to small portions of northern North America, norther Atlantic Ocean, Scandinavia, eastern China, southern South America and the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean." 

Also, Arctic sea ice extent was at record low levels in July.  Sounds a bit like climate change to me, but of course you skeptics will disagree because it was a relatively chilly July in Oslo, I suppose.

For the year so far, 2020 is in a virtual tie for the warmest year on record, coming in at just 0.07 degrees Celsius cooler than 2016.

Looking ahead, closer to home, the weather pattern is going through a bit of a shift over the United States now. It's rearranging the persistent set up we've had since late May. 

This shift will bring record  heat  to the western third of the nation and a coolish spell in the Midwest.  Here in Vermont for at least the next week or so,  temperatures seem like they will be more or less near normal for mid-August.  Which is a switch from all the heat we've had since June.