The EU’s Copernicus satellite monitoring system found this February to be the world’s hottest February ever, according to a Copernicus statement released Wednesday. The average surface air temperature last month was measured at 13.54C (56.37F) worldwide, said the Climate Change Service of Copernicus, the EU’s earth observation program. This measurement was 0.81 degrees above the average for February between 1991 and 2020, and 0.12 degrees higher than the previous hottest February, recorded in 2016. As a result, the past nine months have been the hottest on record, while the global average temperature for the past 12 months (March 2023-February 2024) exceeded the 1991-2020 average by 0.68 degrees. The winter in Europe this year, at 1.44 degrees above the 1991-2020 average, was the second-warmest winter on record after the winter of 2019-2020. Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, noted that February joined a recent string of record-breaking temperatures and warned that if global warming is not curbed, record temperatures will continue worldwide. In Europe, temperatures in February were 3.3 degrees above the 1991-2020 average, with temperatures “significantly above average” in Central and Eastern Europe. Above-average temperatures were also recorded in Northern Siberia, the central and northwestern United States, much of South America, all of Africa, and Western Australia. Global sea surface temperatures reached an unusually high level as well. The average sea surface temperature in February was 21.06C (69.91F), making it the highest sea surface temperature recorded for any month. The previous record for sea surface temperature, recorded in August 2023, was 20.98C (69.76F).
February 2024 was hottest on record, EU climate agency says
