February was Earth’s most unusually warm month on record, blowing away the record that had been set just one month prior.
The new findings, contained in preliminary data released Saturday by NASA and backed up by information from other research groups, show that the combination of a record strong El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean and human-caused global warming drove global temperatures to levels never before seen since instrument records began in 1880.
Monthly global average surface temperatures, with Feb. 2016 indicated.
Image: NASA GISS/Mashable
The NASA data, which is subject to adjustment as scientists refine their analysis, shows that February had a global average surface temperature of 1.35 degrees Celsius above the 1951 to 1980 average, or 2.43 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Read more…
More about Warmest Year, Warmest Month, Extreme Weather, Global Warming, and Climate Change
