June Earth's hottest ever: US monitors

The combined global land and ocean surface temperature data also found the January-June and April-June periods were the warmest on record, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, which based its findings on measurements that go back as far as 1880.

In June, the combined average for global land and ocean temperatures was 61.1 degrees Fahrenheit (16.2 Celsius) -- 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit (0.68 Celsius) more than the 20th century average of 59.9 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 Celsius).

Temperatures warmer than average spread throughout the globe in recent months, most prominently in Peru, in the central and eastern United States and in eastern and western Asia, according to NOAA.

In contrast, cooler-than-average conditions affected Scandinavia, southern China and the US northwest.

The Beijing Climate Center found that Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Jilin experienced their warmest June since records began in 1951, while Guizhou saw its coolest June ever.

Spain's nationwide temperatures made June the coolest in 13 years, according to its meteorological surface.

Global ocean surface temperatures averaged 0.97 degrees (0.54 Celsius) above last century's average of 61.5 degrees Fahrenheit (16.4 Celsius) -- the fourth warmest June since records began. The Atlantic Ocean saw the most pronounced warmth, NOAA said.

The average land surface temperature that month was 1.93 degrees Fahrenheit (1.07 Celsius) more than the 20th century average of 55.9 degrees Fahrenheit (13.3 Celsius) -- the warmest ever.

Meanwhile, sea surface temperatures were declining throughout the equatorial Pacific Ocean, in line with the end of El Nino, a climate pattern that lasts an average of five years during which unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean move east.

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center forecast that La Nina conditions, where ocean waters in the east-central equatorial Pacific are unusually cool, would likely develop during the northern hemisphere summer this year.

(c) 2010 AFP