For the third consecutive month, the monthly temperature and year to date ranked second warmest in the 138-year record. At the poles, sea ice extents were at or near record low levels.
Climate by the numbers
April
The average global temperature for April 2017 was 1.62 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 56.7 degrees, according to the analysis by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. This was the second highest for April in the 1880-2017 record, behind last year by 0.31 degrees.
Year to date | January through April 2017
The year-to-date average temperature was 1.71 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 54.8 degrees. This was the second-highest for this period on record; 0.34 of a degree cooler than the record set in 2016.
