Global temperature ties with 2005 as record highest for September

According to NOAA scientists, the globally-averaged temperature for September 2012 tied with 2005 as the warmest September since record keeping began in 1880. It also marked the 36th consecutive September and 331st consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-average September temperature was September 1976, and the last below-average temperature for any month was February 1985.

Most areas of the world experienced higher-than-average monthly temperatures, including central Russia, Japan, western Australia, northern Argentina, Paraguay, western Canada, and southern Greenland. Meanwhile, far eastern Russia, western Alaska, southern Africa, parts of the upper Midwest and southeast United States, and much of China were notably below average.

In the Arctic, sea ice extent averaged 1.39 million square miles for the month, resulting in the lowest monthly sea ice extent on record, and on September 16, the Arctic reached its all-time lowest daily extent on record. More than 4.57 million square miles of ice melted in 2012, the size of the entire United States and Mexico combined. Conversely, on the opposite pole, Antarctic sea ice reached its all-time highest daily extent on record on September 26.

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