February 2024 was the warmest February in a record dating from 1850, US meteorological agency NOAA reported Thursday in its monthly global climate report.
key details of the report are published below. The full report is available at an internet page marked ncei.noaa.gov.
NOAA:
February had a record-high monthly global ocean surface temperature for the 11th consecutive month. El Niño conditions that emerged in June 2023 continued into February, and according to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center it is likely that El Niño will transition to ENSO-neutral by April-June 2024 (83% chance), with increasing odds of La Niña developing in June-August 2024 (62% chance).
The Northern Hemisphere tied 2016 as the warmest February on record at 1.85°C (3.33°F) above average. The Northern Hemisphere land temperature tied 2020 as the second highest on record while the ocean temperature was again record-high by a wide margin (0.32°C/0.58°F warmer than February 2020).
The Arctic region had its third warmest February on record.
February 2024 in the Southern Hemisphere also ranked warmest on record at 0.95°C (1.71°F) above average. The ocean-only temperature for February in the Southern Hemisphere ranked highest on record, while the land-only Southern Hemisphere temperature was 2nd warmest on record.
Meanwhile, the Antarctic region had its 54th coolest February, 0.17°C (0.31°F) below average.
Record-warm temperatures covered approximately 13.8% of the world's surface this February, which was the highest percentage for February since the start of records in 1951, and 7.4% higher than the previous February record in 1986.
Zero percent of the world's surface had a record-cold February.
