July was New Zealand's hottest ever, new data confirms

There's more evidence out that July was the hottest Earth has ever had, at least in recorded history.

And it won't be a surprise to many Kiwis that New Zealand was one of those places which saw records broken.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), July was almost 1C hotter than the 20th century average "making it the hottest July in the 140-year record".

The previous record was held by 2016. 

"Nine of the 10 hottest Julys have occurred since 2005 - with the last five years ranking as the five hottest," NOAA said. "Last month was also the 43rd consecutive July and 415th consecutive month with above-average global temperatures."

NOAA's data backs up figures released by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) last week, which also saw this recent July pip 2016's. The WMO said it was worrying because July 2016 was marked by a strong El Niño sequence - known to cause increased temperatures - while July this year was not. 

The year to date is the second-warmest globally, NOAA said, tying with 2017. 

"It was the hottest year to date for parts of North and South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the southern half of Africa, portions of the western Pacific Ocean, western Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean."

Arctic sea ice is also at a record low for July, at almost 20 percent below average. In Antarctica, ice cover was 4.3 percent below normal, the lowest in 41 years. 

The only parts of the world which bucked the trend were parts of Scandinavia and eastern Russia, 1.5C below average.

Newshub.