Global land and ocean temperatures were the warmest on record in August 2024. Land temperatures were the hottest on record and ocean temperatures were the second-warmest, the US weather agency, the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), said Thursday.
In their monthly climate report, climatologist Ahira Sánchez Lugo of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and meteorologist Scott Handel of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said that from January to August 2024, global land and ocean temperatures were the warmest on record.
From June to August 2024 (the northern summer), not only were land temperatures the warmest on record, but ocean temperatures were also the second warmest.
Concerns over agricultural markets
For global agricultural markets, the update raised concerns, as the U.S. recorded its third-lowest rainfall on record in August. NOAA experts said about 36% of the continental U.S. is in “some sort of drought,” about 12% higher than in July.
NOAA reiterated the Climate Prediction Center’s prediction that there is a 71% chance of a La Niña event developing between September and November.
“The La Niña phenomenon is expected to continue from January to March 2025. However, a strong event is unlikely. Neutral conditions are expected to continue through spring,” the report said.
“La Niña Watch”
Relatedly, the APEC Climate Centre has issued a “La Niña warning” and predicts that India will experience above-normal rainfall between October 2024 and March 2025.
“The APCC ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) alert suggests a La Niña watch. The Niño 3.4 index is forecast to reach -1°C in November 2024 and gradually increase to -0.4°C by March 2025. A La Niña event remains most likely over the forecast period,” it said in its latest seasonal outlook.
Established in 2005 as a global climate prediction organization with the approval of 21 APEC member states, the APCC projects that the probability of above-normal temperatures will increase significantly over most parts of the globe between October 2024 and March 2025, except for the eastern tropical and subtropical Pacific and the central equatorial Pacific.
Additionally, above-normal precipitation is expected over India, Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska and Australia, and above-normal precipitation is also likely over the Arctic, central Russia, the South China Sea to the northern North Pacific, the off-equatorial western North Pacific and the Caribbean, APCC said.
The center also predicts significantly increased chances of above-normal temperatures in the Arctic, Pacific Ocean (except the equatorial region and the tropical and subtropical eastern Pacific), Indian Ocean (except the southern part), Southeast Asia (except Indochina), Central Africa, the North Atlantic, Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.
