Last month was the warmest May in modern history, and the latest in a series of 13 consecutive months of positive temperature records, according to US meteorologists.
That period is the longest period of consecutive monthly temperature records since the global measurements began 137 years ago.
Although El Niño weather phenomenon is starting to decline, it still has a major influence on temperatures.
– El Niño is only one of many factors. Abnormal is the new normal, says Director of the World Climate Research Programme, David Carlson.
The global average temperature for May 1900’s was 14.8 degrees Celsius. The May of this year was at 0.87 degrees above average. In the same month last year, which was also a record month, the average was around 0.2 degrees lower than this year.
Experts say that global warming is to blame for several environmental disasters worldwide, from the bleaching of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to forest fires in Canada. There have been extreme weather in several places in May, including torrential rain in Europe and the American South.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today