Most of Europe had above-average air temperatures in February, especially northern Norway and Sweden and Svalbard. It was also drier than average in most of Western and Southern Europe.
Globally, it was the fourth warmest February on record, with above-average temperatures in the eastern United States, northern Russia, Pakistan and India. In other places, notably in the Iberian Peninsula, Turkey, the western United States, Canada, northeastern Russia and northern Australia, temperatures were lower than average.
It also appears that the extent of sea ice in the Antarctic was smaller than ever last month. On average, there was 34 percent less sea ice on Antarctica than normal in February. This broke the previous record set in 2017. The record was coming because in January there was already much less ice than usual for that month.
“Our latest data shows that Antarctic sea ice has reached its lowest extent in the 45-year record of satellite data. This low sea ice condition may have important implications for the stability of the Antarctic ice sheets and ultimately for the global sea level rise,” explains Samantha Burgess of Copernicus. “Polar ice caps are a sensitive indicator of the climate crisis and it is important to closely monitor the changes occurring there.”
Copernicus also uses satellite data to monitor sea ice in the North Pole. The total area there was 4 percent below the average for February last month.
