February 2024 has sounded the alarm bells on climate, being declared the warmest February ever recorded globally, marking the ninth consecutive month of record temperatures, as per reports from The Guardian.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has highlighted that global sea surface temperatures reached an all-time high during this period. February saw temperatures soar by 0.81°C above the 1991-2020 levels and 1.77°C warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month (1850-1900).
Over the past 12 months, from March 2023 to February 2024, the average global temperature soared to a record 1.56°C above pre-industrial levels, surpassing temporarily the critical 1.5°C threshold linked with severe long-term climate change impacts.
Copernicus reported unprecedentedly high daily global average temperatures in the first half of February, with four days from 8 to 11 February seeing temperatures soaring 2°C above 1850-1900 levels.
In Europe, temperatures for the month were 3.3°C above the 1991-2020 average, with central and eastern Europe experiencing temperatures well above average. The winter period from December 2023 to February 2024 stands as the second warmest on record for Europe.
Notably, average global sea surface temperatures for February, excluding the polar regions, hit an unprecedented 21.06°C, surpassing the previous record set in August 2023. Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, emphasized the continuous warming trend, highlighting the need to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations to avert further temperature extremes.
Dr. Friederike Otto from Imperial College London stressed the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels to mitigate the intensification of extreme weather events linked to climate change.
