Global warming deniers have gone quiet*

Anti-scientific campaigners are quick to point to any anomalous downturn in temperature or inconsistency between the data provided by the various research institutions. However, they have had very little to get their teeth into for over a year now, and the figures for July 2016 tend to confirm the long-term trend. As Discover magazine's Tom Yulsman reports:

Even though the El Niño warming episode is over, Earth’s heat streak is continuing. Big time.

Both NASA and NOAA have released their verdicts for global temperatures in July (NASA’s here, and NOAA’s here). And both concur that it was the hottest such month on record.

Since July is typically the warmest month of the year globally, that means it was the hottest of all 1,639 months on record.

Let us count other ways in which July 2016 was noteworthy:

• It marks the 15th straight month that the global temperature record has been broken.
• This is the longest such streak in the 137-year record.
• July marks the 40th consecutive such month with temperatures that were at least nominally above the 20th century average.
• The last time July’s global average temperatures were below average was back in 1976.
• Last month also was the 379th consecutive month with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average.

*many of us suspect that they re-directed their energies into rubbishing the European Union, with rather more success