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Uncle Joe

(58,366 posts) Mon Apr 18, 2016, 05:19 PM Apr 2016

March temperature smashes 100-year global record

The global temperature in March has shattered a century-long record and by the greatest margin yet seen for any month.

February was far above the long-term average globally, driven largely by climate change, and was described by scientists as a “shocker” and signalling “a kind of climate emergency”. But data released by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) shows that March was even hotter.

Compared with the 20th-century average, March was 1.07C hotter across the globe, according to the JMA figures, while February was 1.04C higher. The JMA measurements go back to 1891 and show that every one of the past 11 months has been the hottest ever recorded for that month.

Data released released later on Friday by Nasa confirmed last month was the hottest March on record, but the US agency’s data indicated February had seen the biggest margin. The Nasa data recorded March as 1.28C above the average from 1951-1980, while February was 1.34C higher.

The World Meteorological Organisation, the UN body for climate and weather, said the March data had “smashed” previous records.

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A major El Niño weather event, the biggest since 1998, is boosting global temperatures. But scientists are agreed that global warming driven by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions is the largest factor in the astonishing run of temperature records.

“While the current spike in global temperatures is getting a boost from El Niño, most of this anomalous warmth is a result of the ongoing human-caused global warming trend,” said Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at Potsdam University in Germany.

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/15/march-temperature-smashes-100-year-global-record