Warmest April on record, climate agency reports

(AP) -- It was a hot time in the old world last month.

The planet's average temperature for April was 58.1 degrees Fahrenheit (14.5 Celsius), the hottest for any April on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

Indeed, the world's average temperature was the highest on record for the January-April period, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.

For January-April, the average was 56.0 degrees (13.3 Celsius), the agency said.

Areas particularly warmer than average included Canada, Alaska, the eastern United States, Australia, South Asia, northern Africa and northern Russia.

Cooler-than-normal places included Mongolia, Argentina, far eastern Russia, the western contiguous United States and most of China.

Climate experts said the El Nino warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean weakened in April, as sea-surface temperature anomalies decreased.

The report noted that Arctic sea ice was below normal for the 11th consecutive April, covering an average of 5.7 million square miles (14.7 million square kilometers).

Antarctic sea ice extent in April was near average, just 0.3 percent below the 1979-2000 average.