\n<\/p>\n
May 2024 was the warmest May on the books, marking a full year of record-high monthly temperatures, NASA scientists found. Average global temperatures for the past 12 months hit record highs for each respective month \u2013 an unprecedented streak \u2013 according to scientists from NASA\u2019s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear we are facing a climate crisis,\u201d said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. \u201cCommunities across America\u2014like Arizona, California, Nevada\u2014and communities across the globe are feeling first-hand extreme heat in unprecedented numbers. NASA and the Biden-Harris Administration recognize the urgency of protecting our home planet. We are providing critical climate data to better lives and livelihoods, and benefit all humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The run of record temperatures fits within a long-term warming trend driven by human activity \u2014 primarily greenhouse gas emissions. The trend has become evident over the past four decades, with the last 10 consecutive years being the warmest 10 since record-keeping began in the late 19th century. Before this streak of 12 straight months of record temperatures, the second longest streak lasted for seven months between 2015 and 2016.<\/p>\n
Bill Nelson<\/p>\n
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re experiencing more hot days, more hot months, more hot years,\u201d said Kate Calvin, NASA\u2019s chief scientist and senior climate advisor. \u201cWe know that these increases in temperature are driven by our greenhouse gas emissions and are impacting people and ecosystems around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In NASA\u2019s analysis, a temperature baseline is defined by several decades or more \u2013 typically 30 years. The average global temperature over the past 12 months was 2.34 degrees Fahrenheit (1.30 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century baseline (1951 to 1980). This is slightly over the 2.69 degree Fahrenheit (1.5 degree Celsius) level with respect to the late 19th century average.<\/p>\n
To calculate Earth\u2019s global temperature, NASA scientists gather data from tens of thousands of meteorological stations on land, plus thousands of instruments on ships and buoys on the ocean surface. This raw data is analyzed using methods that account for the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and for urban heating effects that could skew the calculations.<\/p>\n
Phenomena such as El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a, which alternately warm and cool the tropical Pacific Ocean, can contribute a small amount of variability in global temperatures from year to year. The strong El Ni\u00f1o that began in spring 2023 helped stoke last year\u2019s extreme summer and fall heat.<\/p>\n
As of May 2024, scientists at the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Climate Prediction Center projected a 49% chance of La Ni\u00f1a developing between June and August, and a 69% chance of it developing between July and September. By cooling a large swath of the tropical Pacific, a La Ni\u00f1a event could partially suppress average global temperatures this year.<\/p>\n \n