This July surpassed August 2016 as the hottest-ever month on record by 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit, the Washington Post's Andrew Freedman reports.
The big picture: Deke Arndt, head of climate monitoring for NOAA, tells the Post that "July 2019 marked the 415th straight month that was warmer than the 20th century average." 9 of the 10 warmest Julys on record have taken place since 2005, and Arctic and Antarctic sea ice fell to their lowest-recorded levels this July, according to NOAA.
Anchorage, Alaska, saw sizzling temperatures on Thursday, hitting 90ºF degrees and toppling the city's all-time record-high temperature by 5 degrees, as well as the daily record of 77ºF for July 4, according to Weather.com.
Why it matters: The Arctic region has pushed into an entirely new climate. The last 6 years have been the warmest Alaska has experienced since record keeping began in 1952. In addition, Alaska's land-based ice is being lost at a rate of about 14,000 tonnes per second, according to William Colgan, co-author of a report on Arctic climate change in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
