September 2016 warmest in 136 years, says NASA

A map of the September 2016 land-ocean temperature index. (Image courtesy: NASA/GISS)

New Delhi: The phenomenon of climate change is making its magnanimous presence felt in a larger way, every day, every month.

Once again, a monthly tally of global temperatures conducted by NASA concluded that September 2016 was the warmest month on record in 136 years, although, by a narrow margin.

As per NASA, September 2016's temperature was a razor-thin 0.004 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous warmest September in 2014.

Last month was 0.91 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean September temperature from 1951-1980.

This marks nearly a year straight of record heat, according to NASA, with 11 of the past 12 months ranking as the warmest on record.

This record warmth is also an indicator that 2016 will be the warmest calendar year on record, taking over the top spot from 2015.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which also keeps global temperature records, there have been 16 straight warmest months (September could become the 17th straight month of record warmth), which is unprecedented.

The September record virtually eliminates any doubt that 2016 will beat last year for the title of the warmest year on record.