In this April 30, 2016 file photo, people collect water for non-drinking use as the same is pumped out from a construction site at a slum area in Mumbai, Maharashtra state, India. Earth鈥檚 heat is stuck on high. Federal scientists said the globe shattered monthly heat records for an unprecedented 12th straight month as April smashed the old record by half a degree. AP FILE PHOTO
WASHINGTON 鈥� Earth鈥檚 heat is stuck on high.
Thanks to a combination of global warming and an El Ni帽o, the planet shattered monthly heat records for an unprecedented 12th straight month, as April smashed the old record by half a degree, according to federal scientists.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration鈥檚 monthly climate聽said Earth鈥檚 average temperature in April was 58.7 degrees (14.8 degrees Celsius). That鈥檚 2 degrees (1. 1 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 20th century average and well past the old record set in 2010. The Southern Hemisphere led the way, with Africa, South America and Asia all having their warmest Aprils on record, NOAA climate scientist Ahira Sanchez-Lugo said.聽聽was among other organizations that said April was the hottest on record.
The last month that wasn鈥檛 record hot was April 2015. The last month Earth wasn鈥檛 hotter than the 20th-century average was December 1984, and the last time Earth set a monthly cold record was almost a hundred years ago, in December 1916, according to NOAA records.
鈥淭hese kinds of records may not be that interesting, but so many in a row that break the previous records by so much indicates that we鈥檙e entering uncharted climatic territory (for modern human society),鈥� Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler said in an email.
READ: The heat goes on: Earth sets 9th straight monthly record
At NOAA鈥檚 climate monitoring headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina, 鈥渨e are feeling like broken records stating the same thing鈥� each month, Sanchez-Lugo said.
And more heat meant record low snow for the Northern Hemisphere in April, according to NOAA and the Rutgers Global Snow Lab. Snow coverage in April was 890,000 square miles below the 30-year average.
Sanchez-Lugo and other scientists say ever-increasing man-made global warming is pushing temperatures higher, and the weather oscillation El Ni帽o 鈥� a warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide 鈥� makes it even hotter.
The current El Ni帽o, which is fading, is one of the strongest on records and is about as strong as the 1997-1998 El Ni帽o. But 2016 so far is 0.81 degrees (0.45 degrees Celsius) warmer than 1998 so 鈥測ou can definitely see that climate change has an impact,鈥� Sanchez-Lugo said.
Given that each month this year has been record hot, it is not surprising that the average of the first four months of 2016 were 2.05 degrees (1.14 degrees Celsius) higher than the 20th-century average and聽聽last year鈥檚 record by 0.54 degrees (0.3 degrees Celsius).
Last year was the hottest year by far, beating out 2014, which also was a record. But 2016鈥檚 start 鈥渋s unprecedented basically鈥� and in general half a degree warmer than 2015, Sanchez-Lugo said.
Even though El Ni帽o is fading and its cooler flip side La Nina is forecast to take hold later this year, Sanchez-Lugo predicted that 2016 will end up the hottest year on record for the third straight year. That鈥檚 because there鈥檚 a lag time for those changes to show up in global temperatures and because 2016 has started off so much hotter than 2015, she said.
READ: 2015 was Earth鈥檚 hottest year on record