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LOS ANGELES | Xinhua | The June global surface temperature was 1.22 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average of 15.5 degrees Celsius, making it the warmest June on record and the 13th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, according to a new report released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Friday.
There is almost a 60 percent chance that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record and a 100 percent chance that it will rank in the top five, said the National Centers for Environmental Information, a division of NOAA, in the report.
The report found that June temperatures were above average across most of the global land surface except for western Canada, most of Greenland, southern South America, northwestern Russia, eastern Asia, eastern Australia and much of eastern Antarctica.
Africa, Asia and South America each had their warmest June on record while Europe had its second warmest.
Sea surface temperatures were above average over most areas, while parts of the tropical eastern Pacific and southeastern Pacific were below average. The global oceans have been record warm since April 2023, according to the report.
In addition, the report pointed out that for the January-June period, the global surface temperature was 1.29 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average, making it the warmest such period on record. South America, Europe and Africa each had their warmest year-to-date period, whereas North America was second warmest.
Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June was the 12th smallest on record. In general, snow cover was below average over most areas except for parts of western Siberia and small parts of China, Pakistan and far-western Canada, which were above-average, according to the report.
Global sea ice extent was the second smallest in the 46-year record at 8.75 million square miles, which was 810,000 square miles below the 1991-2020 average, the report added. ■
