Every month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) compiles a global report on the state of the climate which is available through their excellent website. The Center notes upfront that the preliminary nature of the data presented and that “ranks and anomalies may change as more compete data are received and processed.” With that caveat in mind, however, the Global Highlights for June 2012 were:

•The average combined global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2012 was 0.63°C (1.13°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F). This is the fourth warmest June since records began in 1880.

•The Northern Hemisphere land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2012 was the all-time warmest June on record, at 1.30°C (2.34°F) above average.

•The globally-averaged land surface temperature for June 2012 was also the all-time warmest June on record, at 1.07°C (1.93°F) above average.

•ENSO-neutral conditions continued in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean during June 2012 as sea surface temperature anomalies continued to rise. The June worldwide ocean surface temperatures ranked as the 10th warmest June on record.

•The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January–June 2012 was the 11th warmest on record, at 0.52°C (0.94°F) above the 20th century average.