WEATHER

Not a record, not a tie: July ranks as second warmest month on record

Doyle Rice
USA TODAY
A man wipes sweat from his face in Midtown Manhattan, July 19, 2017 in New York City. The National Weather Service had issued a heat advisory with temperatures expected to be in the 90s with high humidity.

July was the second-hottest month ever recorded worldwide, missing top place by just less than a tenth of a degree, federal scientists announced Thursday.

Only July 2016, boosted by the natural El Niño cycle, was slightly warmer. Last month was also the 391st consecutive warmer-than-average month, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Global temperatures have been kept since 1880.

Long-term, man-made global warming is the primary cause of the hot streak, said Jake Crouch, a NOAA climate scientist. 

El Nino — a natural climate cycle marked by unusually warm tropical Pacific ocean water — affects weather and climate around the world. Having such a warm month without an El Niño is strange, Crouch said.

While the month didn't hit the overall record, Earth's land areas were the warmest they've ever been, an important measurement considering all of us live on land, Crouch said.

Earlier this week, a separate set of global temperatures, compiled by NASA using slightly different methods, found that last month was essentially tied with July 2016 for the warmest month on record.

The U.S. was also unusually warm in July, sweltering through its 10th-warmest July in 123 years of record-keeping.

More:Death Valley set record for hottest month in U.S. history

Death Valley suffered unusually hideous heat: With an average temperature of 107.39 degrees in July, it set the record for hottest month at a single location in the U.S., and possibly, the world.

Other global climate highlights from July: Antarctic sea ice area was the smallest for July since records began in 1979. And the nation of Bahrain had its warmest July on record.

Little heat relief is in sight here in the U.S. The fall forecast predicts above-average temperatures for the entire country, the Climate Prediction Center said.