We try to avoid reporting on too much of the almost continuous flow of information relating to climate change but the following recent statistics from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) seem sufficiently important and from a sufficiently reliable source that business should take them into account in planning for the future:

• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2011 was the seventh warmest on record at 16.08°C (60.94°F), which is 0.58°C (1.04°F) above the 20^th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F).
• June 2011 was the 316^th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20^thcentury average. The last month with below-average temperature was February 1985.
• The June worldwide average land surface temperature was 0.89°C (1.60°F) above the 20^th century average of 13.3°C (55.9°F)—the fourth warmest on record.
• The global average ocean surface temperature was the 10^th warmest June on record, at 0.47°C (0.85°F) above average. Neither El Niño nor La Niña conditions were present during June 2011. According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, these ENSO-neutral conditions are expected to continue into the Northern Hemisphere fall 2011.
• The first half of 2011 (January–June) was the 11^th warmest on record for the combined global land and ocean surface temperature. Separately, the worldwide average ocean temperature was also the 11^th warmest January–June and the worldwide average land temperature was the 12^th warmest such period.

Source: NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for June 2011, published online July 2011, retrieved on July 23, 2011 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/.