Last month was the warmest February on record globally, making it the ninth consecutive month with record temperatures for this time of year, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said.
According to the data, February was 1.77 C warmer than the average temperature of the pre-industrial period from 1850 to 1900, and 0.81 C above 1991-2020 levels. The average global temperature over the past 12 months – March 2023 to February 2024 – was the highest ever recorded, exceeding the pre-industrial level by 1.56 C.
This temporarily exceeded the 1.5C threshold beyond which the worst effects of climate change are expected in the long term.
The global mean sea surface temperature in February outside the polar regions was the highest on record at 21.06 C, surpassing the previous record of 20.98 C set in August 2023. At the end of the month, the daily average sea surface temperature reached a new absolute maximum of 21.09 C, Copernicus reported.
Earlier, January had also been recorded as the warmest first month of the year, surpassing the previous warmest January in 2020, as per C3S’s records going back to 1950.
While the record of average global sea surface temperature does not include the polar oceans, things are not looking good there either. Antarctic sea ice reached its annual minimum in February, recording the third-lowest extent on record – 28 per cent below average.
