This chart shows just how abnormally hot it's been in 2019

July 2019 was the warmest month ever recorded on Earth. According to NASA data, the average temperature over the past month was 2.34°C above the average temperature calculated for the years from 1980 to 2015 and used as a reference period for the chart. As seen by the monthly temperatures of selected years since 1880, winter temperature is naturally below the multiyear average of the reference period, which is a single figure showing the average temperature over a long period of time irrespective of seasons.

Summer temperatures are naturally above the base period multiyear average but have been diverging further and further from it. While monthly averages increased with every 20-year period, 2019 is another jump up from 2000. It is among the warmest years since the beginning of recorded temperatures and it seems well on its way to breaking the record of hottest year ever.

The global data for near-surface temperatures comes from onshore weather stations as well as from ship, buoys and satellite measurements of the oceans. According to scientific findings, the continuing global warming will lead to changes in the strength, frequency, spatial extent and duration of extreme weather events. 2019 heat also had a strong impact on polar ice conditions: The Arctic ice pack reached a historic low in July (19.8% below average), as did the Antarctic ice pack, which reached its smallest extent for July in 41 years of observations.