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Antarctic sea ice shrank to a record low for the month
An arched iceberg along the Antarctic Peninsula, taken June 17, 2022. Last month Antarctic sea ice extent reached a record low for June, at 4.68 million square miles — or about 471,000 square miles below average. (Image credit: Dan Costa/National Science Foundation/Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
June’s average global temperature continued 2022’s remarkably warm trend, as both the month and the year so far ranked sixth warmest on record.
In addition, global sea ice reached near-record lows last month, with Antarctica seeing its lowest June ice coverage on record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
Here’s a closer look into NOAA’s latest monthly global climate report:
Climate by the numbers
June 2022
The average global surface (land and ocean) temperature in June was 1.57 degrees F (0.87 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average of 59.9 degrees F (15.5 degrees C), making June the sixth warmest in the 143-year record.
June 2022 marked the 46th consecutive June and the 450th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average. The ten-warmest Junes on record have all occurred since 2010.
Looking at just land temperature, June 2022 was the Northern Hemisphere’s second-warmest June on record — 2.81 degrees F (1.56 degrees C) above average — behind June 2021’s record high land temperature. Europe and Asia also had their second-warmest June land temperature on record.
The year to date | January through June
The first half of 2022 ranked sixth warmest on record, with a global temperature of 1.53 degrees F (0.85 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average of 56.3 degrees F (13.5 degrees C).
According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record, but only an 11% chance that it will rank among the top five warmest.
Other notable climate events for June
Polar ice coverage hit near-record low: Globally, June 2022 saw the second-lowest June sea ice coverage (extent) on record. Only June 2019 had a smaller sea ice extent. Antarctic sea ice extent for June was a record low at 4.68 million square miles, or about 471,000 square miles below average. Arctic sea ice extent last month was 347,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average — roughly the size of Sweden, Norway and Denmark combined — and the 10th-smallest June extent in the 44-year record.
Tropical cyclone activity was about average: June 2022 produced five named storms across the globe, which is near-normal activity for June. Only one of those, Hurricane Blas in the Eastern Pacific, reached tropical cyclone strength (74 mph). Although June’s Tropical Storm Alex was only a tropical storm for approximately 30 hours, it was the Atlantic’s first named storm of the season.
More > Access NOAA’s latest global climate report and download the related images.
