Science and Health

It's Not Just You — August Really Was Hotter Than Ever

The past 11 consecutive months have set record temperatures.

It's Not Just You — August Really Was Hotter Than Ever
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"Well, of course, this is the first heatwave that we've had in two years in Manhattan," a WABC anchor said in August.

"Even those used to the sweltering temperatures are not used to this," a CBS reporter said of the heat in August.

If you thought August felt warmer than usual this year, you were right.

Last month was the hottest August in the 136 years of modern record keeping, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

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July is typically the hottest month each year. But in 2016, August tied July as the hottest month ever recorded.

It was 0.16 degrees Celsius warmer than August 2014, which was considered the warmest August up until now.

But it doesn't seem all that special when you see it continues a trend — now of 11 consecutive months — of setting monthly high temperature records.

The rising temperatures worry President Barack Obama who didn't parse words in a New York Times interview in early September.

"My top science adviser John Holdren, you know, periodically will issue some chart or report or graph in the morning meetings, and they're terrifying," Obama told The New York Times.

Obama also announced last week the United States and China had joined the Paris agreement. The agreement, which was reached last year, aims to limit greenhouse gases.

In the agreement, the United States aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels within a decade.

SEE MORE: There's A Lot Of Work Left To Ratify The Paris Climate Agreement

But that could be a challenge. Some Republican lawmakers have said the Senate should ratify the agreement. The Obama administration disagrees.

And there was another hurdle back in February; the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to put the administration's greenhouse gas emissions rules for power plants on hold.