This August was the hottest one on record

This past August was the hottest one since record-keeping began 136 years ago, according to a monthly analysis by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The new record continues the streak of record high monthly temperatures that began nearly a year ago.

The hottest month is usually July, but the most recent August tied with July for the warmest month ever recorded. That’s 0.29 degrees Fahrenheit (0.16 degrees Celsius) hotter than the second-hottest August on record, which was in 2014. It was also 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.98 degrees Celsius) warmer than the average August temperature from 1951 to 1980.

The monthly analysis is created using publicly available data from Antarctic research stations, instruments measuring sea surface...