If you thought July was unusually hot, you were right. It was the hottest month ever recorded since the U.S. weather agency NOAA began keeping track 142 years ago.

The combined land and water temperature around the world was 0.9 degrees Celsius higher than the average.

Records were broken in many countries, including the United States, Ireland, Turkey and Japan, where scorching temperatures forced some Olympic events to be moved to different times, and even different cities.

It was the hottest July ever in Asia and the second hottest in Europe.

August is shaping up to be another hot month; Sicily may have already recorded a new record for Europe when the mercury hit nearly 49 degrees Celsius.
NOAA's administrator said the data is further proof of the dangers of climate change.

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