Publication Date May 15, 2016 | The Guardian

April breaks global temperature record, marking seven months of new highs

Global land and sea temperature was 1.11C warmer in April 2016 than the average temperature for April during the period 1951-1980. Photo: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
Global land and sea temperature was 1.11C warmer in April 2016 than the average temperature for April during the period 1951-1980. Photo: Stephane Mahe/Reuters

April 2016 was the hottest April on record globally – and the seventh month in a row to have broken global temperature records.

The latest figures smashed the previous record for April by the largest margin ever recorded.

It makes three months in a row that the monthly record has been broken by the largest margin ever, and seven months in a row that are at least 1C above the 1951-80 mean for that month. When the string of record-smashing monthsstarted in February, scientists began talking about a “climate emergency”