April 2016 breaks global temperature records; is the hottest month, says NASA

If you are literally hot under the collar and tempers are frayed, there's a reason for that. According to new data released by US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), last month was the hottest April ever.

The information showed that April 2016 was the third month in a row to break the monthly record by the largest margin ever and the seventh month in a row to be at least 1 degree Celsius above the 1951-80 mean for that month, Guardian reported.

The global temperature of land and sea was found to be 1.11 degree Celsius warmer in April than the average temperature for April during the period 1951-1980.

The new record broke the previous one by 0.24 degree Celsius, which was set in 2010, at 0.87 degree Celsius above the baseline average for April. That record itself broke one set three years earlier at 0.75 degree Celsius above the baseline average for April.

It all but assures that 2016 will be the hottest year on record and probably by the largest margin ever.

Andy Pitman from the University of New South Wales said: "The interesting thing is the scale at which we're breaking records. It's clearly all heading in the wrong direction."

He added, "Climate scientists have been warning about this since at least the 1980s. And it's been bloody obvious since the 2000s. So where's the surprise?"

Pitmans said the recent figures put the recent goal agreed in Paris of just 1.5 degree Celsius warming in doubt. "The 1.5 degree Celsius target, it's wishful thinking. I don't know if you'd get 1.5 degree Celsius if you stopped emissions today. There's inertia in the system. It's putting intense pressure on 2 degree Celsius," he said.

-With agency inputs