February was warmest on record globally, say scientists

Global average temperature for past 12 months highest on record at 1.56C above pre-industrial levels, data shows

Last month was the warmest February on record globally, making it the ninth month in a row with record temperatures for the time of year, scientists have said.

Global sea surface temperatures are also at their highest ever recorded, data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service shows.

The data shows February was 1.77C warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month, from 1850 to 1900, and 0.81C above 1991-2020 levels. The global average temperature for the past 12 months – between March 2023 and February 2024 – was the highest on record, at 1.56C above pre-industrial levels.

That puts the world temporarily above the 1.5C threshold beyond which, over the long term, the worst impacts of climate change are expected.

Daily global average temperatures were “exceptionally high” during the first half of the month, reaching 2C above 1850-1900 levels on four days from 8 to 11 February, Copernicus said.

European temperatures in February 2024 were 3.3C above the 1991-2020 average for the month, with temperatures well above average seen in central and eastern Europe, the figures showed.

Europe’s winter, from December to February, was the second warmest on record for the continent.

Average global sea surface temperatures for February, outside the polar regions, were the highest for any month on record, at 21.06C, exceeding the previous record of 20.98C set in August 2023.

The average daily sea surface temperature reached a new absolute high of 21.09C at the end of the month, Copernicus said.

Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said: “February joins the long streak of records of the last few months. As remarkable as this might appear, it is not really surprising as the continuous warming of the climate system inevitably leads to new temperature extremes.

“The climate responds to the actual concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, so unless we manage to stabilise those, we will inevitably face new global temperature records and their consequences.”

Dr Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, said: “There’s now so much evidence pointing to the fact that our climate is warming, if you want to deny climate change, you might as well claim the Earth is flat, too. Billions of measurements from weather stations, satellites, ships and planes point to the very basic fact that our planet is heating up at a dangerous pace.

“People should not be surprised that we have broken another record. Humans continue to burn oil, gas and coal, so the climate continues to warm. It is a very well understood relationship. There is no silver bullet or magic fix for climate change. We know what to do: stop burning fossil fuels and replace them with more sustainable, renewable sources of energy. Until we do that, extreme weather events intensified by climate change will continue to destroy lives and livelihoods.”

Cover photo: Zakopane in Poland last month. Europe’s winter, from December to February, was the second warmest on record for the continent. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images