Climate, Copernicus:March 2024 is the warmest on record

The global average temperature is the highest ever recorded, 1.58 degrees above pre-industrial levels in the last 12 months

ROME - March 2024 was warmer globally than any previous March on record, with an average surface air temperature of 14.14 degrees, 0.73 degrees above average of the 1991-2020 period for March and 0.10 degrees above the previous maximum set in March 2016.It is the tenth consecutive month to be the hottest ever recorded among the corresponding months that preceded it in the years.Most importantly, March 2024 was 1.68 degrees warmer than an estimate of the March average for the pre-industrial baseline period 1850-1900.This was communicated by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

The global average temperature of the last twelve months (April 2023 – March 2024) is the highest ever recorded, equal to 0.70 degrees above the average for the period 1991-2020 and 1.58 degrees above the pre-industrial average for the period 1850-1900.It is worth remembering that the target decided at COP21 in Paris in 2015, with the related Agreement, aimed to remain below an increase of +1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial period.

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“March 2024 continues the sequence of climate records for both air temperature and ocean surface temperature, with the tenth consecutive record month - says Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Service - The global average temperature is the highest ever recorded, 1.58 degrees above pre-industrial levels in the last 12 months.Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to stop further warming."
The European average temperature for March 2024 was 2.12 degrees higher than the 1991-2020 March average, making the month the second warmest March on record for the continent, only slightly 0.02 degrees colder than March 2014.Temperatures were mostly above average in central and eastern regions.

Outside of Europe, temperatures were above average in eastern North America, Greenland, eastern Russia, Central America, parts of South America, many parts of Africa, southern Australia and in parts of Antarctica.
The global average sea surface temperature for March in the temperate and torrid ranges (between 60 degrees North and 60 degrees South) was 21.07 degrees, the highest monthly value ever recorded, slightly higher than the 21.06 degrees recorded for February.
All reported results are based on computer-generated analyzes and the ERA5 dataset, using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world from 1940 to the present.