Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice was at its lowest extent for March since satellite records began 47 years ago. It was the fourth consecutive month in which the sea ice extent has set a record low for the time of year.
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Global temperatures remained abnormally high last month, the second-hottest March globally and Europe’s hottest March on record.
The global average temperature stood at 14.06C, 1.60C above the pre-industrial level for March, according to data by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). This makes last month the 20th month in the last 21 months for which the global-average surface air temperature surpassed the 1.5C mark. Last year, the hottest on record, was the first calendar year with temperatures above 1.5C.
The critical 1.5C threshold was established at the 2015 COP21 climate summit, when 196 parties signed the legally binding Paris Agreement. They agreed to keep limiting global warming to below 1.5C or “well below 2C” above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Beyond this limit, experts warn that critical tipping points will be breached, leading to devastating and potentially irreversible consequences for several vital Earth systems that sustain a hospitable planet.
Last year, the hottest on record, was the first calendar year with temperatures above 1.5C.
While this does not signal a permanent breach of the critical limit, which scientists say is measured over decades, it sends a clear warning to humanity that we are approaching the point of no return much faster than expected.
Temperature over Europe – the fastest-warming continent – remained above average, with the average temperature for the region at 6.03C, 2.41C above the 1991-2020 average for March.
The continent was also affected by “contrasting rainfall extremes,” said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Among the regions experiencing wetter-than-average conditions were the Iberian Peninsula, Norway, parts of Iceland and north-western Russia. Meanwhile, the UK, Ireland, central European regions and south-east areas including Greece and Turkey were drier than usual.
“[M]any areas experiencing their driest March on record and others their wettest March on record for at least the past 47 years,” Burgess said.
Australia also saw its hottest March on record, which marked the end of hottest 12-month period in the continent’s history.
Simon Grainger, a senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said low-pressure systems that typically bring cooler conditions across the south of the country this time of year did not occur last month. “We just didn’t see temperatures cool off at any time during the month. This is all part of a global pattern of record warm temperatures that we have been seeing,” he said.
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2025 ‘Unlikely’ Hottest on Record
Last month’s temperatures were high despite weak La Nina conditions in the tropical Pacific, said climate researcher Zeke Hausfather. The weather pattern, which typically occurs every three to five years, is associated with the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific.
La Nina conditions kicked in last month, much later than previously forecast, after the hottest January in recorded history.
Data from the first three months of the year suggests that is “very unlikely” that 2025 will set a new record, Hausfather said in a post on social media X. It is “most likely” that 2025 will end tied with 2023, currently the second-warmest year on record, he said.
Lowest Arctic Winter Sea Ice
Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice last month had its lowest monthly extent since satellite record-keeping began 47 years ago, the EU agency said on Tuesday. The previous three months also saw a record low for the time of year, it added.
The Arctic reaches its maximum sea ice in March each year, making this year’s maximum extend the lowest ever recorded in the region.
Scientists have long warned that warming conditions in the Arctic – a region warming four times faster than the rest of the world – affect weather elsewhere.
“The warming winter atmosphere above the Arctic Circle does impact large-scale weather patterns that do influence those of us outside the Arctic,” Julienne Stroeve, a senior research scientist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, told the Associated Press last week.
A study published last year warned that polar bears face starvation as ice-free periods in the Arctic increase as a result of global warming.
Featured image: C3S/ECMWF.
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