Earth's Surface Warming Trend Continued In March - NOAA
below are key extracts froma monthly global climate report for March published Friday by NOAA.
NOAA:
"March 2025 was the third-warmest March on record for the globe in NOAA's 176-year record. The March global surface temperature was 1.31°C (2.36°F) above the 20th-century average of 12.7°C (54.9°F). This is 0.03°C (0.05°F) less than the record-warm March of last year.
"March 2025 marked the 49th consecutive March with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.
"Global land-only March temperatures ranked second warmest on record at 2.24°C (4.03°F) above average. Ocean-only temperatures also ranked second warmest on record for March at 0.90°C (1.62°F) above average.
"These temperatures occurred as the weak La Niña, which was present from December through February, transitioned to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral conditions. Global temperatures tend to be cooler during periods of La Niña in comparison to ENSO-neutral and especially when El Niño is present.
"According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, ENSO-neutral conditions returned in March, with below-average sea surface temperatures weakening in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean. ENSO-neutral is favored during the Northern Hemisphere summer, with a greater than 50% chance through August–October 2025."
"Australia had its warmest March on record, in a series that began in 1910. The area-average mean temperature was 2.41°C (4.34°F) above the 1961–1990 average. On a state by state basis, it was the warmest March on record for New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia.
"Approximately 3.9% of the global land surface was affected by record-warm conditions in March.
"There were practically no areas of record cold temperatures on a global scale in March.
"In the Northern Hemisphere, March 2025 ranked second warmest on record at 1.69°C (3.04°F) above average, cooler than the March 2016 record of 1.82°C (3.28°F).
"The Northern Hemisphere land temperature and the ocean temperature also were each individually second warmest.
"The Southern Hemisphere also had its second-warmest March at 0.94°C (1.69°F) above average. The Southern Hemisphere land temperature was third warmest while the ocean temperature ranked second warmest on record for March.
"Approximately 6.4% of the global ocean was record warm in March, while only 0.01% was record cold."
