July 2015 - the warmest on record for the planet

July was warm right across the globe. (NOAA) Click image for more detail.

It is no surprise that July is typically the warmest month of the year on average across the globe. But according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this past July was the warmest for the planet since record keeping began in 1880. With an average temperature of 16.61C (61.86F), July 2015 surpassed the previous record from 1998 by 0.08C (0.14F). It may not seem significant, but it is and you can see the results this summer.

Here in North America we have had widespread heat and drought from B.C. and the northwest to the southwest and into the deep southern portion of the US. Wildfires have been raging out of control in California, Washington, B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan most of the summer. Temperatures have soared as high as 40C in B.C. and Saskatchewan. Montreal and most of southern Quebec just finished its longest stretch of 30C plus weather in quite some time with officially 4 days at Trudeau Airport but many other locations had up to 6 days. This included high temperatures near 34C on Wednesday and humidex values approaching 40C. On a worldwide scale, intense heat has gripped widespread portions of Europe and Asia this summer. On July 31st in Bandar Mahshahr, Iran, one of the warmest real feel temperatures, (temperature + humidity) ever recorded on the planet was observed at 74C (165F).

In addition to the land temperature, sea surface reading have been 1.35F above the 20th Century average, surpassing the previous high established just last year. Weather you subscribe to the theory of global warming and climate change or not, it is definitely getting warmer for the current period in the life of our planet.

For the short term, after the passage of the cold front last night, we can expect cooler more comfortable weather all weekend. Expect abundant sunshine across southern Quebec and eastern Ontario with high temperatures near 26C (79F) and lows down near 15C (59F). The next chance for showers and thunderstorms will be late Sunday into Monday.