July coldest month in four years

The global temperature report for July 2004 from the University of Alabama in Huntsville Earth System Science Center found that the month was the coolest month in four and a half years and the coolest July in a dozen years.

The data show that the global temperature was 0.21C (about 0.38F) below the 20-year average for July.  This followed on from a June temperature about 0.02C below the average.  Only 3 months in the last 41 had been below this norm.

Dr. John Christy of UAH said, This was the coolest July since 1992, when global temperatures were cooled by dust thrown into the atmosphere by the Mount Pinatubo volcano.  A color map of temperature anomalies will be available at http://climate.uah.edu.