This April was the hottest worldwide since records began in 1940 – and the 11th successive record-breaking month, figures reveal.

Record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the weather phenomenon known as El Nino pushed up air temperatures across the globe, according to Copernicus, the EU's Climate Change Service.

Surface air temperature was 15.03C - 0.67C above the 1991-2020 average for April, and 0.14C above the previous high set in 2016. 

The global average temperature for the 12 months to April is the highest on record, 1.61C above the 1850-1900 period used as the benchmark for pre-industrial levels. 

This April was the hottest worldwide since records began in 1940 – and the 11th successive record-breaking month, figures reveal

In Europe, the continent warming fastest on Earth, temperatures were 1.49C above the 1990-2020 average for April.

But temperatures in the UK have been labelled 'average' at 8.3C by the Met Office, just 0.4C above the 1991-2020 April norm.

Average global sea surface temperatures outside the polar regions were 21.04C, the highest in records from 1979. 

Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, said 'extra energy trapped into the ocean and the atmosphere by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will keep pushing the global temperature towards new records'.