Report: February Was Hottest on Record Globally
According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), last month was the hottest February on record, as temperatures reached 1.77°C (3.2°F) hotter than 'pre-industrial' times. Every month since June 2023 has become the hottest ever for that time of year....
Facts
- According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), last month was the hottest February on record, as temperatures reached 1.77°C (3.2°F) hotter than 'pre-industrial' times. Every month since June 2023 has become the hottest ever for that time of year.1
- For the 12 months beginning in March 2023, the average global temperature was 1.56°C (2.8°F) warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial era, which is hotter than the Paris Agreement's temperature threshold of 1.5°C.2
- Global ocean temperatures in February were 21.06°C (69.91°F), breaking the previous record of 20.98°C (69.77°F) set in August 2023.3
- Historic temperature changes also occurred Feb. 8-11, with temperatures 2°C above pre-industrial levels on those days.4
- The minimum ice extent of Arctic sea ice reached 2% below average in February, compared to the all-time low of 6% below average in February 2018. The ice of Antarctica, meanwhile, saw its third-lowest extent of 28% below the February average. The all-time lowest for the continent is 33% below.5
- A separate report from Climate Central found that human carbon dioxide emissions 'drove abnormal warmth experienced by 59% of humanity,' or roughly 4.8B people.2
Sources: 1BBC News, 2axios.com, 3Al Jazeera, 4CNN and 5FOX Weather.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by New York Times. Back-to-back years of record-breaking heat paint a grim picture of the future, but there's still time to reverse course. By reducing CO2 emissions to levels laid out by scientists, the world can prevent even larger swaths of the population from suffering the effects of extreme weather and possibly heal some impacted regions of Earth.
- Narrative B, as provided by The Conversation. The best approach to climate change is adapting to it. Thousands of years ago, ancient civilizations dealt with droughts through agricultural wisdom passed down organically. The world must fend off the elites' attempts to reap profits from top-down climate change remedies and instead take a cue from the persistence of past generations.
