April 2017: Earths 2nd Warmest April on Record

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/april-2017-earths-2nd-warmest-april-record

Dr. Jeff Masters · May 18, 2017

April 2017 was the planet's second warmest April since record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) on Thursday; NASA also rated April 2017 as the second warmest April on record. The only warmer April was just last year, in 2016. April 2017 ranked as the eighteenth warmest month (expressed as the departure of temperature from average) of any month in the global historical record in the NASA database. The extreme warmth of January 2017 (thirteenth warmest month of any month in NASA’s database), February 2017 (sixth warmest), March 2017 (fifth warmest) and now April gives 2017 an outside chance of becoming Earth’s fourth consecutive warmest year on record--if an El Niño event were to develop this summer and continue through the end of the year, as some models are predicting. It's more likely, though, that 2016 will remain as the warmest year in Earth's recorded history. For the year-to-date period of January–April 2017, Earth's temperature was 0.95°C (1.71°F) above the 20th century average of 12.6°C (54.8°F). This was the second highest such period since records began in 1880, behind 2016 by 0.19°C (0.34°F.)

Global ocean temperatures last month were the second warmest on record for any April, and global land temperatures were the fourth warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were the fifth warmest for any April in the 39-year record, according to the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH).

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Arctic sea ice: lowest extent on record for the seventh consecutive month

Arctic sea ice extent during April 2017 was tied with April 2016 for the lowest April extent in the 38-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Arctic sea ice has set record-low monthly extent records from October 2016 – April 2017. The record low ice extent has been due to a combination of very warm air temperatures plus unusually warm waters invading the Arctic from the south, beneath the ice. Arctic sea ice extent will likely not set a record for May, as the extent has been dropping at a slightly lower pace than usual over the last couple of weeks. However, the total volume of the ice could still be at record low levels for May, based on the huge deficit depicted by the PIOMAS sea ice volume model at the end of April.
Antarctic sea ice no longer setting all-time lows--barely

Sea ice surrounding Antarctica has been at unprecedented lows in recent months, setting an all-time monthly minimum extent record each month during the five-month period November 2016 – March 2017. However, monthly Antarctic sea ice extent in April 2017 was the second lowest for April on record, just behind the record set in 1980.

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