Components of North and South America, northwest and southeast Africa, southeast and much jap Asia, western Australia and Europe all noticed record-breaking temperatures, both each day or for all the month.
“The anomalous warmth is in keeping with the persisting warming noticed since June 2023, with seven consecutive new world month-to-month temperature information, together with January 2024. International sea floor temperatures are document excessive. While the El Niño occasion has stoked temperatures in some components of the world, human induced local weather change is the long-term main contributing issue,” says Alvaro Silva, a climatologist working with WMO.
Alternatively, a big a part of north-western Canada, central Asia and from southern central Siberia to south-eastern China witnessed distinctive chilly over the past week of the month.
The meteorological winter within the northern hemisphere and summer time within the southern hemisphere end on the finish of February.
500 hPa geopotential peak and 850 hPa temperature
ECMWF
Africa
Many international locations all through Africa suffered intense warmth, with new February daytime and in a single day temperature information. Southern Africa (together with Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) noticed temperatures 4-5°C above the February common.
Components of the Sahel and West Africa additionally noticed new month-to-month temperature information.
Asia
Components of southeast Asia have been gripped by extreme warmth situations, together with Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Temperatures continuously soared into the excessive 30’s – effectively above the seasonal common.
For instance, Saravanh in southern Lao Folks’s Democratic Republic recorded 38.2 °C on 21 February (the typical February most temperature on this area is round 31-32 °C).
Minimal in a single day temperatures have been additionally effectively above common within the area.
Temperatures on 18-20 February additionally broke earlier information for February in lots of areas of southern and jap China, and in Japan.
Australia
Exceptionally excessive temperatures affected Western Australia. The town of Perth reached 40° C seven occasions throughout February, its most in any single month.
The city of Carnarvon had a temperature of 49.9 °C on 18 February – a brand new station document and the second highest February temperature on document for Australia.
Emu Creek station measured 49.1 °C on 22 February. It had 4 successive days of 48 °C or above from 17-20 February, the primary time this has occurred at any Australian website.
Extreme heatwave warnings stay in place in some components of central Western Australia over the past week of February.
Europe
Preliminary estimates present that a lot of Europe (apart from the north) had a February common temperature a minimum of 2 °C hotter than regular. Some components of central and southeastern Europe have even increased deviations from regular at 4–6 °C.
Thus, February 2024 was possible the warmest or one of many warmest months of February on document on this space.
Winter 2023/24 was 2–3 °C hotter than regular in southeastern Europe and may also be document heat a minimum of for some components. There was a pointy distinction between a chilly Northern Europe and far hotter center and subtropical latitudes, in line with the Deutscher Wetterdienst, which acts as a WMO regional local weather monitoring centre for Europe.
In late February 2024, a major heat spell occurred in jap central Europe and southeastern Europe. Most temperatures reached 20 °C and better in some areas, or greater than 10 °C above the typical for February.
Thus, day by day most temperatures have been 15-20 °C throughout an space between southeastern Poland and the northern Balkans on 27 February. This was a minimum of 12 °C above the 1991-2020 regular and thus very excessive for late winter. On 24 February, day by day maxima exceeded 20 °C in southern Romania and northern Bulgaria with deviations of greater than 14 °C above regular.
The station Lviv in western Ukraine, with knowledge again to 1824, famous a brand new February document at 17.8 °C.
Minimal in a single day temperatures additionally have been excessive for late winter. Giant components of this space recorded minimal temperatures of 5-10 °C, typically even above 10 °C. Frost,which is frequent for late February even within the “trendy” 1991-2020 local weather, was notable by its absence.
Low-pressure programs shifting from the North Atlantic into Europe performed a task within the heat. A few of them had a path over Northern Europe, others additional south to the Mediterranean. The latter was additionally the case for the low-pressure system “Dorothea”, which was positioned over the western Mediterranean on 27 February 2024. East of Dorothea, heat subtropical air from North Africa was led to Southeastern and jap Central Europe, the place the excessive temperatures have been measured.
Together with different components (world warming and particularly warming of the ocean floor of the Mediterranean) this will trigger extraordinarily excessive temperatures with period of a number of days.
North America
In the US, heat situations have dominated a lot of the mid-section of the nation resulting from a dry and heat air mass underneath the affect of a high-pressure system. A big space of document excessive temperatures affected a lot of this area on 26 and 27 February earlier than giving solution to extra seasonal and far colder climate.
In response to preliminary knowledge from the US Nationwide Climate Service, about 78 areas throughout the nation tied or broke a document excessive on 26 February, and 69 on 27 February. In a single day minimal temperatures have been additionally exceptionally excessive. On 27 February, about 70 stations tied or broke earlier information, together with Houston with 70°F (21.1 °C). Day by day and month-to-month information span from within the state of Minnesota close to the Canadian border to Texas close to the Mexican border.
The best temperature was recorded in Killeen/Fort Hood in Texas at 100 °F (37.8 °C). Wildfires swept throughout the Texas Panhandle, with the Smokehouse Creek fireplace described because the second largest within the historical past of Texas. A Purple Flag Warning was lively within the Plains, what means crucial fireplace climate situations.
South America
Excessive temperatures and prolonged drought in a number of areas of South America led to an upsurge in fires in February.
Excessive wildfire depth and emissions have been noticed within the northern Amazon rainforest, significantly within the Brazilian state of Roraima, resulting in the best carbon emissions recorded for February since a minimum of 2003, not just for Roraima however for Brazil as complete. Different international locations in South America, resembling Venezuela and Bolivia, are additionally experiencing the best emissions since 2003 for a similar interval, in line with the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service.
Elevated temperatures, dry soils and powerful winds fanned the worst wildfires in latest historical past in Chile in early February. Greater than 132 folks have been reported killed and greater than 20,000 folks have been affected, principally within the Valparaíso area. Greater than 6 000 hectares of land have been burned by the devastating fires.
