Temperatures in 2016 are shocking scientists, even after 2015 broke temperature record after temperature record. The year began with startling global temperature anomalies. February's global temperature was 2.18°F (1.21°C) above average, which represents the largest departure from average for any month in recorded history. The big jump was due to the vast amount of heat accumulating in the oceans, which the 2015-2016 El Niño helped pump from the ocean to the atmosphere. But as the record 2015-2016 El Niño faded, 2016 continued to shatter records. On July 21, Mitribah, Kuwait reported a maximum temperature of 129.2°F (54.0°C), the hottest temperature ever recorded in the Eastern Hemisphere and the second hottest globally. July 2016 was also the hottest month of any year on record, and scientists say 2016 is all but certain to go down as the third consecutive hottest year on record.