Where did February 2023 rank for global temperature?
NASA and NOAA have both released their global surface temperature anomaly data for February 2023. According to both sources, last month was the fourth warmest February on record. The record database for NASA goes back as far as 1880 while the NOAA database now adds an extra 30 years and starts in 1850.
NASA
The February 2023 average global surface temperature anomaly for land/ocean combined was +0.97 of a degree Celsius, which is measured against the 1951-1980 average.
Much of the Arctic, the eastern United States, northern Asia and Northern Europe was well above normal while far northeastern Canada had an unusually cold February.
Image courtesy NASA GISS.
The Northern Hemisphere was 1.32 degree Celsius above the 1951-1980 average last month, also placing it in fourth place. Last month was the seventh warmest February in the Southern Hemisphere, with an average temperature anomaly of +0.62 of a degree Celsius.
NOAA
February 2023 averaged 0.97 of a degree Celsius above the 20th-century global surface temperature average, which also makes last month the fourth warmest February on record.
Image courtesy NOAA.
According to NOAA, February 2023 was the 44th consecutive February and the 528th consecutive month when the global average temperature was above the 20th-century average.
Despite the cooling influence of a third consecutive La Niña in the Pacific basin, the average global ocean surface temperature was 0.66 of a degree Celsius above the 20th-century average, which makes it the fifth warmest February on record.
ENSO
After three consecutive La Niñas, we are now under neutral El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions. However, there is growing consensus that an El Niño is on the way, perhaps as early as later this summer. If the El Niño does take shape and persists into at least next spring there is a possibility that a new annual global temperature record may be set in either 2023 or 2024 but more likely for 2024.
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