According to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in the United States the first nine months of this year were also record warm. It is looking highly likely this will be the warmest year, ever on earth.
Scientists are blaming the extreme heat on three of the most powerful El Niño events on record in the Pacific Ocean in combination with long-term, manmade global warming.
The September globally averaged sea surface temperature was 0.81°C above the 20th century average. This was the highest temperature for September in the 1880-2015 record, surpassing the previous September record set last year by 0.07°C.
To date, seven months this year have been record warm, including the past five in a row.
It might seem like small fry in terms of temperature differences but it would take a temperature change of just 10 degrees Fahrenheit to see the ice cover in Greenland and Antarctica completely disappear.
The year-to-date temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.85 degrees Celsius, above the 20th century average.