December–February Warmest on Record

February 2015 second warmest February on record: NOAA

• December–February warmest on record
• February 2015 second warmest February on record
• February Arctic sea ice extent third smallest on record

Globally averaged temperatures were the highest on record for both the year-to-date (January–February) and seasonal (December–February) periods, said NOAA in its State of the Climate report.

Meantime, February’s average global temperature, land and ocean surfaces combined, was the second highest in the 1880-2015 record, according to the report.

Global highlights: February 2015

• February’s  average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was  0.82°C (1.48°F) above the 20th century average.
• The globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.68°C (3.02°F) above the 20th century average. This was also the second highest for February in the 1880–2015 record. The highest temperature occurred in 2002, at 1.70°C (3.06°F) above average.
• February’s globally-averaged sea surface temperature (SST) was 0.51°C (0.92°F) above the 20th century average of 15.9°C (60.6°F). This was the third highest for February in the 136-year record period.
• The average Arctic sea ice extent was 600,000 square kilometers  (370,000 square miles), or 6.2 percent below the 1981–2010 average, or the third smallest February extent since records began in 1979.
• Antarctic sea ice during February was 400,000 square kilometers (250,000 square miles), or  21.4 percent above the 1981–2010 average. This was the sixth largest February Antarctic sea ice extent on record but smallest since 2012.

Global highlights: December–February 2015

• Average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 0.79°C (1.42°F) above the 20^th century average of 12.1°C (53.8°F) during December–February, the highest for that period in the 1880–2015 record ( previous record set in 2007, ).
• Globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.46°C (2.63°F) above the 20^th century average of 8.1°C (46.4°F), tying with 2007 as the highest for the period.
• Globally-averaged SST was 0.54°C (0.97°F ) above the 20^th century average, or third highest for the period.

Global highlights: Year-to-date (January–February 2015)

• Average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was the highest for the first two months of 2015 at 0.79°C  (1.42°F) above the 20^th century average,  surpassing the previous records of 2002 and 2007 by 0.04°C  (0.07°F).
• The globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.53°C  (2.75°F) above the 20^th century average, or the second highest for the period. The highest temperature occurred in 2002 (1.55°C or 2.79°F above average).
• SST global average was 0.52°C (0.94°F) above the 20^th century average, or the third highest for the two-month period in the 1880–2015 record.

Source: NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for February 2015, published online March 2015, retrieved on March 21, 2015 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2015/02