Near-record global warmth recorded in June

— -- June 2009 was the planet's second-warmest June ever recorded, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported Friday. Only 2005 was warmer. When just ocean areas are included, it was the warmest June ever. Global records began in 1880.

"Large portions of each inhabited continent were substantially warmer than average during June 2009," NOAA's National Climatic Data Center wrote in an online report "The warmest anomalies were most notable in parts of Africa and most of Eurasia."

The main cause for the warmth was the development of El Niño, a warming of tropical Pacific ocean water that affects weather patterns worldwide. "If El Niño conditions continue to mature as projected by NOAA, global temperatures are likely to continue to threaten previous record highs," noted the report.

Overall, for the first half of the year, 2009 is the fifth-warmest year on record for the Earth, with an average global temperature nearly 1 degree above average. Only 1998, 2002, 2005, and 2007 had a higher average temperature for the first six months of the year. In 2009, warmer-than-average conditions were recorded across much of the world's land areas, with the exception of cooler-than-average temperatures across Canada.

In the USA, the climate center reported earlier this week that the USA is having its 25th-warmest year on record, with only North Dakota experiencing below-average temperatures.