Our global temperature continued its upward trend last month with July 2017 marking the second warmest July ever recorded on this planet. Only July 2016 was warmer.

According to the state of the climate report by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Earth’s combined average temperature for the month – over both land and sea surfaces – was 61.89°F. That is 1.49°F above the 20th-century average. July was also the 391st consecutive month with a global temperature above its long-term norm. That means the last time any month posted a below average reading was December 1984.

While heat dominated most of the planet in July, some places were particularly warm, including China, the Middle East, Australia, southern Africa, and the western United States. For the contiguous US as a whole, it was the 10th warmest July on NOAA’s books.

These soaring temperatures are largely attributed to the long-term trend of human-caused climate change. ENSO-neutral conditions prevailed in July, which means there was neither an El Niño nor a La Niña to influence global weather patterns.

Year to date, the first seven months of 2017 were the second warmest such period of any year on record. Global temperature records date back to 1880.

July 2017 was the planet’s second warmest July on record. Credit: NOAA