The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said February 2022 was the seventh warmest of that month in the climate record, according to a March 14 release.
NOAA also said this December through February in general was extremely warm for the planet.
“Regionally, Asia, Europe and South America saw average temperatures that ranked among their eight-warmest Februaries on record. North America was the only continent to have a below-average February temperature,” NOAA reported.
The February global land and ocean surface temperature of 1.46 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.81 of a degree Celsius, above the 20th-century average made it the seventh warmest on record. NOAA also reported a three-month global surface temperature that rose to 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 53.8 degrees Fahrenheit tied it as the fifth warmest of that time period and matching 2015.
As temperatures warmed, polar sea ice was reportedly scarce. February’s Antarctic Sea ice coverage was 29.6 percent below average, the smallest on record, which was 830,000 square miles lower than average. That was smaller than February 2017 and the 14th-smallest in the 44-year record, according to NOAA.
Eight named tropical storms – four of them intensifying to become hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons – was above average for February, the NOAA release reported.
