‘Mother nature sending a message’: NASA tracks warmest July since 1880

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - Temperatures are reaching new heights. Last July was the hottest on record, according to new NASA data.

Researchers across the globe are worried the warming will only get worse, and coastal communities are ground zero when it comes to climate change. The oceans experience 90% of global warming, and what happens in the water also affects severe weather on land. Scientists are trying to find new ways to cool the climate down before severe, heat waves create lasting change.

"Mother Nature is sending us a message," said NASA’s Administrator Bill Nelson while at a climate briefing on Monday.

The message Mother Nature is sending isn’t good. July was the hottest on record which is contributing to rising sea levels, wildfires, and extreme heat waves."

July 2023 was by far the warmest July in the record, more than 0.2 degree Celsius warmer than the previous record," said Gavin Schmidt who’s the director of NASA’S Goddard Institute for Space Studies. From space, NASA is tracking the climate crisis and looking for ways to reduce greenhouse emissions.

"We have all the assets up there that are taking very precise measurements of what is happening," Nelson said.

Oceans are warmer than they should be with temperatures hitting 100 degrees in parts of Florida this summer.

"Not only are we seeing an increase in the frequency of coral bleaching, but we’re also seeing coral, fish, and seagrass die off," said Carlos Del Castillo who’s part of the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Here at home in Central Florida, it’s been a record-shattering summer.

"This summer, we have issued more heat advisories than any other summer. In fact, this is the first time we’ve ever had to issue excessive heat warnings when we expect our heat indexes to reach temperatures greater than 113 degrees Fahrenheit," said Will Ulrich who’s the Warning Coordination Meteorologist with NWS Melbourne.

NASA is working on new climate research to find solutions before warmer weather is the new normal.

"We are planning to launch the PACE mission which will provide unprecedented measurements on the biology of the ocean not only to understand how it works but how it will react to global warming," Castillo concluded.

The National Weather Service is tracking oppressive heat continuing through August. The first signs of a cool front won’t start until October.

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