Climate Change: Global Record-breaking Heat

February Is The 9th Consecutive Month Of Record-Breaking Worldwide Heat

According to NOAA's 2023 Annual Climate Report the combined land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.11° Fahrenheit (0.06° Celsius) per decade since 1850, or about 2° F in total. The rate of warming since 1982 is more than three times as fast: 0.36° F (0.20° C) per decade.

Europe's climate monitor said on Thursday that February of last year was the warmest on record worldwide, marking the ninth consecutive month of record-breaking high temperatures worldwide as climate change leads the globe into "uncharted territory".

Storms, crop-withering droughts, and destructive fires have plagued the past year as the naturally occurring El Nino weather phenomenon has intensified human-caused climate change, pushing temperatures upward to levels likely not seen in over a million years.

The period from February 2023 to January 2024 will go down in history as the first time Earth has experienced 12 consecutive months with temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than those of the pre-industrial era, according to data released last month by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

According to its most recent monthly update, the trend has persisted, with February overall 1.770 warmer than the monthly estimate for the pre-industrial reference period of 1850–1900.

February saw record high temperatures throughout much of the world, from South America to Siberia, and Europe also saw its second-warmest winter ever.

Four days in a row saw average global temperatures 20 degrees higher than pre-industrial times, only months after the world recorded its first single day of warmth, according to Copernicus. The first half of the month saw “exceptionally high” daily temperatures worldwide.

Carlo Buontempo, the director of C3S, stated that this was the longest streak exceeding 20 in history and that the heat was “remarkable.”

However, it does not represent a departure from the “well below” 20 and ideally 1.5C Paris Climate Deal limit, which is calculated over decades.

Although Buontempo stated that, given what is known about past temperatures, “our civilization has never had to cope with this climate,” Copernicus' direct data from across the planet dates back to the 1940s.

He told the media, “In that sense, I think the definition of uncharted territory is appropriate, adding that “our cities, our culture, our transport system, and our energy system” were all under unprecedented threat from global warming.