April breaks global temperature records

Data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows that April was the seventh month in a row that broke global temperature records.

Last month easily broke the previous record for temperatures in April and was the third month in a row that the monthly record was broken by the largest margin ever.

In terms of its departure from the 1951-1980 temperature averages used by NASA, April was equal with January 2016, with February and March showing greater departures from the baseline.

The new record for April beat the previous record set in 2010 by a clear 0.24°C.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: "The very unfortunate circumstance we have now is the overlap of a very intense El Nino that has been magnified by climate change."

Ms Figueres who lead efforts to reach the Paris Agreement on climate action in December, added:  "All of these record breaking temperatures and attendant implications that we have had, such as record breaking fires for example, and droughts in India are all reminders that we cannot afford to do anything except to accelerate the solution agenda - we absolutely have no other option but to accelerate."

Several regions in the northern hemisphere, including the US state of Alaska, registered particularly warm temperatures during April and the new data has raised concerns about the likelihood of achieving  a target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C under the Paris Agreement.