Planet Earth Had Its Fourth Warmest February On Record

Another hot global month is now on the books.

Once again, on a global basis, February was a toasty 
month. It was the fifth warmest on record, at least
 for the past 174 years.

On Tuesday, the National Centers for Environmental Information put out its monthly report, this time covering February. The month was the world's fourth warmest on record.  

The hottest spots, relative to average, were the Arctic, northern Europe, southwestern Asia and the eastern United States.

The few cold spots, again, relative to average were in northern Canada, parts of the western United States and northeastern Siberia.

The Arctic had its third lowest ice extent on record. Antarctica and its lowest ice extent on record. 

"February, 2023 marked the 44th consecutive February and 528th consecutive month with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average," NCEI reported.

Chile, Taiwan, Pakistan and Cyprus reported all time record highs for those nations and territories in February. That brings to 17 the number of nations and territories that reported all time record highs in 2023. And we have ten months to go. 

 Overall, meteorological winter, which runs from December 1 through February 28, was the world's fifth warmest on record.   Each of the last nine meteorological winters on a global basis are among the top ten warmest on record as well.