Earth sees warmest July 'by a long shot' in 174 years. What it means for the rest of 2023.

Even for one of the typically hottest months of the year worldwide, July was a scorcher.

It was the warmest July in 174 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

"Last month was way, way warmer than anything we'd ever seen, said Sarah Kapnick, NOAA's chief scientist. "It was the warmest July by a long shot, by more than a a third of a degree."

Because July is normally the hottest month of the year, it was "very likely the warmest month in history since at least 1850," scientists announced in a joint briefing by NOAA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

How hot was July?

According to NOAA and NASA:

• The global surface temperature was 62.42 degrees – 2.02 degrees above the 20th century average.
• It was the first time a July average temperature was 1.8 degrees above the long-term average.
• It was 0.43 degrees warmer than any other July in NASA's global temperature records.
• Ocean temperatures were record high for the fourth consecutive month.
• Global sea ice coverage was the lowest on record for July.
• Sea ice coverage in Antarctica was the lowest on record, for the third consecutive month.
• It was the 47th-consecutive July and 533rd consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average.

Extreme heatHere's a look at some of the nation's victims from extreme heat

What does the July heat mean for the rest of the year?

With the El Niño in the Pacific Ocean forecast to persist through the winter, it's virtually certain that 2023 will rank among the warmest years on record, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information said.

So far, 2023 is the third warmest year on record and there's a 50% probability that 2023 will rank as the warmest year on record, NOAA said.

"We anticipate the impacts of that El Niño to build over time and the biggest impacts will occur in 2024," said Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Mounting evidence of climate change

The fingerprints of climate change can be seen in the record temperatures, and in local events happening around the world, said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "We have record flooding in Vermont. We have record heat in Phoenix and Miami. We have major parts of the country that have been blanketed by wildfire smoke, and of course, we're watching in real time the disaster that has occurred on Maui."

Record heat in South Florida also is contributing to a widespread coral bleaching and die off in Florida and the Caribbean.

The exact contribution of climate change to the Maui fires, which have claimed at least 96 lives, will be carefully studied, said Kapnick.

There are many little things that give rise to these types of incidents, Schmidt said. In Maui, the local factors include the abandoned sugar plantations, non-native grasses and high grass growth during the spring, he said. However longer term climate trends can also be seen in the state, including warmer temperatures and drought. For example, Hawaii has been getting less rainfall by decade.

"Climate change is kind of a threat multiplier for wildfires," Schmidt said, "so there is an overall tendency that we will increasingly see towards greater and more intense wildfires that will be caused by climate change."

How much of a contribution climate change was in Hawaii is something "we're going to be looking at very very carefully in the future," he said.