Global temps rising, records falling

For the first time since … well, February … the world set a temperature record, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

This marked the 11^th consecutive month of record temperatures, NCEI reported Tuesday. In addition, the first three months of the year constituted the warmest first quarter on record.

Averaged over the planet, the March surface temperature came in at an estimated 57.1 Fahrenheit -- 2.2 degrees  above the 20^th Century average. The margin of error was plus-or-minus  0.25 degrees.

In the federal database that was the biggest departure from the 20^th Century figure for any month in the period of record, which dates to 1880.

The warming has been getting an additional kick from the powerful El Nino warming event over a continent-size expanse of the tropical Pacific.

In its Monday update, the Climate Prediction Center said that temperatures out that way have been backing off in recent weeks, but remained about 3 degrees above normal in the key zone.

Globally, last month's combined land and see reading represented the biggest temperature departure on record, but it wasn't the warmest month.

The world is significantly warmer during the Northern Hemispheric summer. North of the Equator, the plentiful land masses allow warmth to build up.

By NCEI's calculation, July's estimated average global temperature in the 20^th Century was 60.4, compared with 54.9 for March.

We remind our readers that the calculation of the global temperature is an immensely complex process.

NCEI uses high-low daily average temperatures at about 2,500 stations worldwide, with "interpolation" to fill in gaps in parts of the world that are poorly measured.

In any event, given the history of month-to-month changes, we expect April to become the 12^th consecutive month of world record temperatures.