July 2009 was the fifth warmest on record

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global&year=2009&month=7&submitted=Get+Report


State of the Climate
Global Analysis
July 2009
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Climatic Data Center

Global Highlights

* The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the fifth warmest on record, at 0.57°C (1.03°F) above the 20th century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F).
* July 2009 was the 33rd consecutive July with an average global land and ocean surface temperature above the 20th century average. The last July with global temperatures below the 20th century average occurred in 1976.
* The global ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the warmest on record, 0.59°C (1.06°F) above the 20th century average of 16.4°C (61.5°F). This broke the previous July record set in 1998. The July ocean surface temperature departure from the long-term average equals June 2009 value, which was also a record.
* The global land surface temperature for July 2009 was 0.51°C (0.92°F) above the 20th century average of 14.3°C (57.8°F), and tied with 2003 as the ninth-warmest July on record.
* For the year to date, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature of 14.3°C (57.9°F) tied with 2004 for the sixth-warmest January-through-July period on record.
* El Niño persisted across the equatorial Pacific Ocean during July 2009. Related sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies increased for the sixth consecutive month in this ENSO domain, where July SSTs were more than 0.5°C (0.9°F) above average. If El Niño conditions continue to mature, as now projected by NOAA, global temperatures are likely to exceed previous record highs.

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According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the July 2009 Northern Hemisphere sea ice extent—which is measured from passive microwave instruments onboard NOAA satellites—was 8.8 million square kilometers (12.7 percent below the 1979–2000 average), resulting in the third lowest July sea ice extent on record, behind 2007 and 2006. This was the 13th consecutive July with sea ice extent below average. July 1996 was the last year that had above-average sea extent.

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Meanwhile, the July 2009 Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent was 1.5 percent above the 1979–2000 average. This was the tenth largest sea ice extent in July. Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent for July has increased at an average rate of 0.8 percent per decade.

I would guess this is due to increased precipitation from warmer ocean waters, and water and air circulation patterns.