February records the hottest average air temperature in history

February this year was the hottest month in the world on record, according to a survey carried out by C3S (Copernicus Climate Change Monitoring Service). The global average air temperature during the period was 13.54°C.

According to the European climate monitoring service, every month has broken a historical monthly temperature record since June 2023. In other words, this is the 9th consecutive month of increase.

With the surface air average of 13.54°C, an increase of 0.81°C was recorded in relation to the February average for the period from 1991 to 2020. It was also 0.12°C above the previous record for the month in 2016.

“As global warming accelerates to alarming levels, we are putting all of our efforts into developing new tools that will make our data more accessible and meaningful to decision makers who need to make quick, informed decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. people”declared Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo.

The Copernicus survey also established the following highlights:

1. February was 1.77°C warmer than an estimate of the February average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period;
2. the average global temperature over the last 12 months – from March 2023 to February 2024 – is the highest ever recorded and was 0.68°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.56°C above the pre-industrial average from 1850-1900;
3. the daily global average temperature was exceptionally high during the 1st half of the month, reaching 2°C above 1850-1900 levels on 4 consecutive days, from 8 to 11 February;
4. European temperatures in February 2024 were 3.30°C above the February 1991-2020 average, with temperatures well above the average recorded in Central and Eastern Europe;
5. Outside Europe, temperatures were above average in northern Siberia, central and northwestern North America, most of South America, throughout Africa, and western Australia; It is
6. the global mean sea surface temperature in February 2024 was above 21.06°C, the highest for any month in the dataset, above the previous record for August 2023, when the temperature reached 20.98° W.