July 2020 was second hottest July on record for Montreal and the entire planet

A woman cools down in a water fountain as she beats the heat in Montreal, Monday, July 2, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL — Montrealers have been feeling the heat this summer, but we’re not alone.

It turns out July 2020 was the hottest July ever recorded for the Northern Hemisphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

The combined land and ocean average temperature was an unprecedented 1.18 degrees Celsius above average, beating the previous record set in July 2019 by 0.08 of a degree Celsisus.

July 2020 was also the second hottest July on record for Montreal AND the entire planet.

The city sizzled, experiencing 14 days with highs above 30 degree Celsius, compared to a normal of nearly four. (The July record for days above 30 C is 17, set in 1955.)

Worldwide, July 2020 was second hottest July, tying with 2016. July’s global temperature of 16.72 degrees Celsius was 0.92 of a degree C above average and was only 0.01 of a degree Celsius shy of tying the all-time record set in July 2019.

With the planet heating up, Arctic sea ice continues to melt. July 2020 set a record for smallest Arctic sea ice coverage ever for July, beating the previous record set in 2019 by about 310,000 square km – an area about the size of Vietnam.