NASA: August 2014 hottest on record

The globe just experienced its hottest recorded August, according to new data released by NASA on Monday.

While last month is ranked the No. 1 August by temperature, the difference among the top five is fewer than .03 degrees Celsius, NASA said in an email to The Hill.

{mosads}All together, summer 2014 ranked fourth out of the warmest summers on record.

The small difference between the top five Augusts, however, reveals that long-term trends are more significant when it comes to tracking global warming, according to NASA.

“August 2014 was a very warm month globally, and the 2014 is shaping up to be a very warm year,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

“In the broader context, these continuing high ranked months and seasons confirm and add to the long-term trend in temperatures that have been seen in recent decades,” Schmidt said.