February 2024 was the warmest February on record globally – the ninth successive month that was the warmest on record for the respective month of the year – and climate experts have reiterated their call for more to be done to counteract climate change.
Figures from the Copernius Climate Change Service reported that in February the average surface air temperature was 13.54°C, 0.81°C above the 1991-2020 average for February and 0.12°C above the temperature of the previous warmest February, in 2016.
The daily global average temperature was exceptionally high during the first half of the month, reaching 2°C above the 1850-1900 levels on four consecutive days (8–11 February).
The month was 1.77°C warmer than an estimate of the February average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period. This was again above the 1.5°C mark that back in 2015 world leaders committed to try and limit the long-term temperature rise of the Earth to – a temperature seen as important to avoid the most damaging aspects of global warming. That commitment, made at COP21 – known as the Paris Agreement – is a legally binding treaty.
In addition, the global average temperature for the past 12 months (March 2023–February 2024) is the highest on record, at 0.68°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.56°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
Copernicus reported that European temperatures in February were 3.30°C above the 1991-2020 average, with much-above average temperatures experienced in central and eastern Europe.
Outside Europe, temperatures were above average over northern Siberia, central and northwest North America, the majority of South America, across Africa, and in western Australia.
Copernicus noted that the El Niño phenomenon, which brings warmer temperatures, continued to weaken in the equatorial Pacific, but marine air temperatures in general remained at an unusually high level.
The average global sea surface temperature for February was 21.06°C, the highest for any month in the dataset, above the previous record of August 2023 (20.98°C). Sea surface temperature is defined over the global extrapolar ocean, from 60°S to 60°N. This is used as a standard diagnostic for climate monitoring. The average daily SST reached a new absolute high of 21.09°C at the end of the month.
“February joins the long streak of records of the last few months,” said Carlo Buentempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. “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.”
