New Zealand had its warmest June on record, according to a government scientific body, as temperatures continued to rise in a trend consistent with global warming.

Despite a cold spell late in the month, daily temperatures averaged 10.6°C  (51.1°F), 1.9° above average, according to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

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“It’s huge. There’s only been 13 times since 1909 that we’ve had such an anomaly,” NIWA scientist Chris Brandolino told public radio. “What’s alarming is that over the past 10 years that’s happened six times.”

While shorter-term variables like increased ocean temperatures aided in warming the air above New Zealand, climate change remained a continuous underlying factor, according to Brandolino.

“We’ve had more north-easterly airflows than normal (from the Pacific), so they’re coming from a warm place, and ocean temperatures are also warmer than average,” he said. “Then you throw in the background of climate change and it adds up to a record warm month for June.”

In 2020, New Zealand saw its seventh warmest year, and the sixth year in a decade where temperatures were among the top ten highest ever recorded.

Last year, New Zealand’s centre-left Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced a ‘climate emergency,’ stating that immediate action was required for future generations’ sake.

New Zealand has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2035.

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This comes in the backdrop of Canada and the US being in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave, triggering massive wildfires and killing hundreds of people across the state of British Columbia. 

Even the arctic circle is experiencing way hotter temperatures, with Russia recording its highest-ever June temperature, rising to 34.8 degrees in Moscow. A weather station in Siberia’s Verkhoyansk, one of the coldest regions otherwise, recorded a 38-degree day on June 20, CNN reported.

Experts have found it difficult to pinpoint the link between all these events but say that is hardly a coincidence.