WASHINGTON: July 2019 temperatures were the hottest ever recorded globally, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday, while satellite data showed polar ice shrank to its lowest levels.

According to the NOAA, the average global temperature for the month was 0.95 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 15.8 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest July in its records, which go back to 1880.

“Much of the planet sweltered in unprecedented heat in July, as temperatures soared to new heights in the hottest month ever recorded.

“The record warmth also shrank Arctic and Antarctic sea ice to historic lows,” the agency said.

The findings confirmed data released by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Aug 5, though the margin of the new record compared to the last, in July 2016, was greater according to the US data.

Searing heat waves saw records tumble across Europe last month, while in the US, nearly 150 million people struggled to stay cool from the Midwestern plains to the Atlantic coast and local media reported at least six deaths.

“Nine of the 10 hottest Julys have occurred since 2005, with the last five years ranking as the five hottest,” the NOAA said, based on its data from weather stations, ship reports, and buoys.

US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2017 from the Paris Climate Agreement, which seeks to cap global warming at below 2 C above pre-industrial levels.

But a federal climate assessment released by the NOAA in November found that climate change “is affecting the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, and human health and welfare across the US and its territories”.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2019