July 2019 hottest month on record for the planet

July 2019 has replaced July 2016 as the hottest month on record, with meteorologists saying that global temperatures marginally exceeded the previous record.

The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Programme, which analyzes temperature data from around the planet, said that July 2019 was around 0.56 °C warmer than the global average temperature between 1981-2010.

That's slightly hotter than July 2016, when the world was in the throes of one of the strongest El Nino events on record.

El Nino events are characterized by warming of the ocean waters in the Pacific Ocean and have a pronounced warming effect on the Earth's average temperature.

Nine of the 10 hottest Julys have occurred since 2005 - with the last five years ranking as the five hottest. July 2019 was also the 43rd consecutive July and 415th consecutive month with above-average global temperatures.