Around the world, temperatures soared last month, melting records and making July the hottest month in more than a century.
July's average global temperature was 16.6 C, beating the previous mark set in 1998 and 2010 by about one-seventh of a degree – a large margin for weather records, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In Canada, the intense warmth has prompted heat warnings in multiple provinces, and fuelled massive wildfires in the west.
"It was the warmest July on record—the warmest of any month on record," Environment Canada Senior Climatologist Dave Phillips told CTV News Channel Thursday. "And we're dealing with records that go back maybe a hundred and thirty five years."
According to Phillips, the sweltering heat is no surprise to climatologists.
This year has already seen the warmest first seven months of any year ever recorded, he said. Coupled with a "," a weather system that causes temperatures to rise in the Pacific Ocean and North America, Phillips said the high temperatures make sense.
But the situation is not so hot everywhere.
While Victoria, B.C., sweated through its hottest summer on record, Phillips said, St. John's, N.L., shivered through its coldest-ever July.
"The only area, globally, that has actually been a little cooler in July was part of northern Scandinavia and here in Eastern Canada, in Eastern North America, from Nunavut right to down to parts of, say, Florida," he said.
"We're seeing, even in our own country some variation."
However, on average, global ocean and land temperatures are "clearly" warmer, Phillips said.
And even though fall is on the horizon, the climatologist said temperatures are likely to remain above average for the rest of the year.
"It's been just relentless warming and that is most likely to continue for the rest of the year," he said. "I think it's the safest bet of all to say that 2015 will go down in history as the warmest year on record."
