Europe: According to scientists, last month was the warmest February ever recorded worldwide, marking the ninth consecutive month of the year with record temperatures. Data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reveals that global sea surface temperatures have also reached their highest level ever recorded.
Based on the available data, the global temperature in February 2024 was 1.77 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average temperature for the same month from 1850 to 1900. This is 0.81 degrees Celsius above the average temperature recorded between 1991 and 2020.
It is concerning to note that the global average temperature for the past 12 months, from March 2023 to February 2024, was the highest on record, at 1.56 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This puts the world above the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, which is expected to have significant long-term impacts due to climate change.
Copernicus reported that the daily average temperatures were exceptionally high during the first half of February, with temperatures reaching 2 degrees Celsius above the levels recorded between 1850 and 1900 on four days from 8 to 11 February.
According to the data, the temperatures in Europe during February 2024 were 3.3 degrees Celsius higher than the average temperature between 1991 and 2020. The temperatures in the central and eastern parts of Europe were particularly above average.
The winter season from December to February was the second warmest in Europe. Moreover, the average global sea surface temperature outside the polar regions in February was 21.06 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 20.98 degrees Celsius set in August 2023. Copernicus said that the daily average sea surface temperature rose to 21.09 degrees Celsius at the end of the month.
The director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, Carlo Buontempo, remarked that, “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.”
According to Dr. Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, there is an abundance of evidence that confirms climate change is real. Anyone who denies climate change might as well believe that the Earth is flat, too. The evidence consists of billions of measurements taken from weather stations, satellites, ships, and planes that all point to the basic fact that our planet is warming 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,” Dr Friederike Otto noted.
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