The agency released new data on Wednesday finding that April also was the warmest such month on record for the globe, creating the 12-months of consecutive warmth, which has never happened before since instrumental records began in 1880.

According to NOAA, global average surface temperatures during April were 1.10 degrees Celsius, or 1.98 degrees Fahrenheit, above the 20th century average, which was the most unusually mild April on record. Surpassing April of 2010 by 0.28 degrees Celsius, or 0.50 degrees Fahrenheit, this was the fourth most unusually mild month of any month out of all 1,636 months on record. 

Image: NOAA/NCEI

All four of the highest monthly temperature departures from average have occurred in 2015 and 2016. 

The NOAA data matches the general findings of two other global agencies, NASA and the Japan Meteorological Agency, which also found April to be the warmest such month in their records. 

The record warmth in 2015 and 2016 is due to a combination of human-caused global warming combined with an unusually intense El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean. 

However, climate scientists have said that human-cased global warming likely played a far larger role than the El Niño has, as shown by the fact that this burst of warmth easily outpaced the records set during a similarly strong El Niño in 1997-98.

In addition, the year-to-date is also by far the warmest January to April period on record, NOAA found. After a record warm January, February, March and now April, the year-to-date is running at 1.14 degrees Celsius, or 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. That beats the previous record set last year by 0.30 degrees Celsius, or 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit, and crushes the record set during the 1998 El Niño, by 0.45 degrees Celsius, or 0.81 degrees Fahrenheit.

Image: NOAA/NCEI

The new NOAA information reads like an almanac of climate calamity, and in many ways it’s a preview of what’s to come if climate projections prove correct. 

Here are some key facts:

• 13 of the 15 most unusually warm months on record have occurred since February 2015. 
• Only 1 out of the 15 most unusually warm months on record occurred prior to the year 2000 — February 1998.
• The 10 warmest months on record for global ocean temperatures were each recorded during the past 10 months.
• April 2016 marks the fifth-straight month since December 2015 that the global monthly temperature departure from average exceeded 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• According to data from the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the northern hemisphere snow cover during April was 890,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average, which made it the smallest April snow cover extent on record. This is in keeping with a general trend toward faster, earlier melting in the northern hemisphere as the climate warms, priming northern latitudes for wildfires.

According to NOAA’s analysis, record warmth was observed in Alaska, parts of South America, central and southern Africa, southeastern Europe, northern and southern Australia, parts of north-central Russia, among other areas.

Image: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The warmth this year is having major consequences around the world. In the Arctic, sea ice hit a record low annual maximum and has plunged to record low levels during the past several weeks. 

In addition, a global coral bleaching event is underway, killing or injuring reefs from the Florida Keys to the Great Barrier Reef. 

In Canada, forest fires are burning unusually early, with one having destroyed about 2,400 buildings in the strategic oil producing area of Fort McMurray.

The record warmth so far in 2016 almost assures that this year will eclipse 2015 as the warmest year on record. But a brewing La Niña event means that the astonishing streak of record-smashing months may come to a temporary halt before the year is over.