August 2016 was the hottest August ever recorded, and marked the eleventh consecutive month that heat records had been shattered around the world.  It's more evidence that climate change isn't comig, it's already here.

The US space agency NASA confirmed that August had a global average surface temperature of about 0.98 C degrees above the average from 1951-1980, and 0.16C above August 2014, the previous record holder.  It also tied with July as the warmest month ever recorded since record-keeping began 136 years ago. 

It puts 2016 on track to be the hottest year ever.  If that happens, 2016 will be the third year in a row to boast this unfortunate title.  It's the yearly rankings and the comparisons to historical averages that tell the full story.

"Monthly rankings, which vary by only a few hundredths of a degree, are inherently fragile," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.  "We stress that the long-term trends are the most important for understanding the ongoing changes that are affecting our planet."