An analysis released by NASA over the weekend shows that average global temperatures last month reached 1.35 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal for February, which is the largest temperature excess recorded since the baseline of 1951-80.
In terms of a warming planet, what might seem like a small increase is quite significant — especially considering that the 2015 U.N. climate summit in Paris (Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 of last year) established a limit of 2 degrees Celsius to prevent further warming on the planet.
To put the 1.35 C into further perspective, based on data by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the month of February's previous temperature record was 0.88 Celsius, in 1988, and then 0.87 Celsius, in 2015.
"NASA dropped a bombshell of a climate report," climatologists Jeff Masters and Bob Henson wrote in their analysis of the new data. "February dispensed with the one-month-old record by a full 0.21C — an extraordinary margin to beat a monthly world temperature record by."
"This result is a true shocker, and yet another reminder of the incessant long-term rise in global temperature resulting from human-produced greenhouse gases," they explained. "We are now hurtling at a frightening pace toward the globally agreed maximum of 2 C warming over pre-industrial levels."
It is important to note that the planet is currently experiencing one of the strongest El Niño periods on record. The last time El Niño was this strong was in 1997-1998, which might be one reason why every month since October 2015 has been a record-breaker.
At the same time, however, it is also important to point out that 2014 was previously the warmest year on record, already followed by 2015 even before El Niño started to reach its peak levels. At this rate, the global temperature record is on track toward being broken for three years in a row.
"We are in a kind of climate emergency now," Stefan Rahmstorf, a professor at the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research in Germany, said. "This is really quite stunning... it's completely unprecedented." He also noted that global carbon dioxide levels rose at a record rate of more than three parts per billion last year.
On Thursday, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will also issue its monthly state of the climate review, which will add further data to NASA's report.
