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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 11, NUMBER 8, AUGUST 1998

NEWS...
For the Record

Item #d98aug33

According to a NOAA press release, August 1998 was the warmest August on record globally. The average global temperature (land and sea) for the month was 61.4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1.3 degrees above the long-term mean of 60.1 degrees for August. August 1998 broke the previous record of 61.1 degrees set in 1997. For the year to date, from January through August, the average global temperature of 58.5 degrees Fahrenheit was also 1.3 degrees above the long-term mean of 57.2, a value based on data from 1880 to 1997. Nationally, January through August has been the fifth wettest and fourth warmest on record. For the year to date, the nation has had 22.77 inches of precipitation. The normal for the period is 20.05 inches. The wettest January through August was in 1979, with 23.34 inches of precipitation. The year 1934 was the warmest January through August with a record 56.9 degrees. In 1998, the temperature for the period was 56.2 degrees. The normal for January through August is 54.3 degrees.