The Earth just experienced its hottest February since records began—and it’s the ninth month in a row to have broken all records, researchers say.
Analysis of data from billions of readings, taken from satellites, weather stations, aircraft and ships, show February 2024 was 0.12 degrees Celsius (0.22 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the previous record, set in 2016. It was also 1.77 Celsius (3.19 Fahrenheit) warmer than the average for pre-industrial times.
Impacts seen around the world in February ranged from heavier rainfall causing damage across Europe and the east and west coasts of North America, to drier-than-average conditions bringing droughts and wildfires to parts of Africa, Central Asia, South America and Australia.
The new findings, from Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, indicate that the rapid warming of the planet is continuing apace.
But the researchers tracking the anomaly were not surprised.
“February joins the long streak of records of the last few months,” said Carlo Buentempo, director at Copernicus. “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 cause of the rising temperatures, Buentempo said, was greenhouse gas emissions released by human activity.
“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,” he explained.
Copernicus further showed that the global average temperature over the past twelve months was the highest ever recorded, standing 1.56 degrees Celsius (2.8 Fahrenheit) over the average for the 1850-1900 period.
“Our planet is heating up at a dangerous pace. People should not be surprised that we have broken another record,” said Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London. “Humans continue to burn oil, gas, and coal, so the climate continues to warm. It is a very well understood relationship.”
In a thinly veiled reference to the U.K. Government’s plans to further exploit North Sea fossil fuel resources, Otto added: “People who think we can keep warming to 1.5 Celsius and continue to open new gas and oil fields might as well claim the earth is flat and believe in Bigfoot.”
Experts also noted that global temperatures in 2024 were being further raised by the El Niño climate fluctuation—but that now, records were being shattered far away from areas usually associated with the phenomenon.
“Sea surface temperatures are at record levels over regions far away from the centre of El Niño action such as the tropical Atlantic and Indian Ocean,” said Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading. “The widespread substantial warmth of the sea surface is consistent with a combination of ocean fluctuations on top of a continued powerful heating effect from rising greenhouse gas concentrations and other smaller factors.”
Allan was unequivocal about what needed to be done. “To halt further rises in carbon dioxide and limit warming of climate and the increased severity of extreme weather events, rapid and massive cuts in greenhouse gases across all sectors of society are essential,” he said.