Temperatures around the world continue to break records. February: Uncharacteristically high temperatures for winter in the northern hemisphere Climate and Environment
In February, the southern hemisphere, where the summer season has now ended, experienced intense heat, while the northern hemisphere recorded high temperatures that are not typical for winter. Parts of the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe experienced record temperatures on either individual days or throughout the month, World Meteorological Organization experts said.
“The heat wave is consistent with the ongoing warming trend observed since June 2023, during which seven new global monthly temperature records were set consecutively, including January 2024,” said WMO climate scientist Alvaro Silva.
“Global sea surface temperatures are at record highs. Although El Niño has led to higher temperatures in some parts of the world, man-made climate change is the main contributing factor in the long term,” he added.
On the other hand, much of northwest Canada, central Asia, and south-central Siberia to southeast China experienced exceptional cold during the last week of the month.
Australia
Exceptionally high temperatures were observed in Western Australia. Temperatures in Perth reached 40 degrees Celsius seven times in February, the highest in a single month.
Temperatures reached 49.9 degrees Celsius in Carnarvon on 18 February – a new record and the second highest February temperature on record in Australia.
At Emu Creek station, from February 17 to 20 – four days in a row – the temperature rose to 48 degrees Celsius and higher. This is again a record figure.
Europe
Preliminary estimates show that across much of Europe (excluding the north) the average February temperature was at least 2 degrees Celsius above normal. Parts of Central and South-Eastern Europe are seeing even higher deviations from normal – 4-6 degrees Celsius
February 2024 was therefore likely to be the warmest or one of the warmest Februarys on record for the region.
The winter of 2023-2024 in southeastern Europe was 2-3 degrees warmer than normal , and could also be record warm. There was a sharp contrast between cold northern Europe and the much warmer mid- and subtropical latitudes.
At the end of February 2024, significant warming. Maximum temperatures in some places reached 20 degrees or higher, which was at least 10 degrees above the average February temperature.
On February 27, daytime maximum temperatures in the area between southeastern Poland and the northern Balkans were 15-20 degrees. This is at least 12 degrees above the 1991-2020 normal. On February 24, daytime maximum temperatures exceeded 20 degrees in southern Romania and northern Bulgaria, with deviations more than 14 degrees above normal.
The weather station in Lviv in western Ukraine recorded a new February record – the temperature rose to 17.8 degrees.
Behind the record warm weather were low pressure systems moving from the North Atlantic to Europe, combined with global warming and especially surface warming in the Mediterranean seas.
North America
In the United States, warm conditions prevailed in the middle part of the country due to a dry and warm air mass under the influence of a high pressure system. Record high temperatures affected much of the region on February 26 and 27, although they then gave way to much colder weather.
Preliminary data from the National Weather Service shows 78 locations across The country set record temperatures on February 26, and on February 27 – in 69 places.
Overnight minimum temperatures were also exceptionally high. About 70 stations recorded records on Feb. 27, including Houston with a temperature of 21.1 degrees.