AlHijjah 04, 1436, September 18, 2015, SPA -- Last month was the hottest August in modern history, U.S. government scientists said Thursday in the latest sign of an unusually warm year across the world's land and sea surfaces. Record-breaking warmth was seen across much of South America and parts of Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, said the report by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The hottest August in 136 years also was the sixth month so far this year to break a monthly temperature record, putting 2015 on pace to beat 2014 as the warmest year. Researchers have calculated it is 97 percent likely that this year will be the warmest ever recorded, scientists said. "The world is basically dominated by areas that are record warm or much warmer than average," said Deke Arndt of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. "This applies really to almost every continent, and to large portions of every ocean basin." The only months this year that have not broken records were January and April. The August record continued a worrying trend of warming, which many scientists say is caused by burning fossil fuels and is worsened by the presence of El Nino, which has a warming effect on parts of the world's oceans.
