An anonymous reader shared the following report from The Washington Post.
Earth just recorded its warmest February, setting a record for the ninth consecutive month, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Agency announced Wednesday.
Relentless and exceptional global warming, driven by a combination of anthropogenic warming and El Niño climate patterns, has spread across both land and oceans since June. Scientists are concerned that the Earth is exceeding critical climate standards and the prospect of an active Atlantic hurricane season. The average global temperature for the month was 13.5 degrees Celsius (56.3 degrees Fahrenheit), 0.12 degrees Celsius (0.22 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the previous warmest month, February 2016.
The warmth of the past 12 months is unprecedented in modern records, rising 1.56 degrees Celsius (2.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels… Scientists believe that catastrophic sea level We are concerned that a tipping point could be reached that could lead to global warming and sea level rise.If global temperatures remain near or above that threshold for multiple years, a breakdown in critical ocean circulation could be reached. It becomes more sexual.
Axios addition:
This is important because the past 12 months have been above the Paris Agreement's annual temperature increase target of 1.5 degrees. But the deal aims to avoid exceeding that level for decades, meaning the target has not yet been formally breached. Copernicus said Europe was particularly warm compared to the average for February, as were central and northwestern North America, much of South America, Africa and western Australia.
The Washington Post reported that in the United States, “winter warmth records were set in more than 200 locations across the Midwest and Northeast.”
They also cite the following post from a climate historian: on social media “We are witnessing something extraordinary and unprecedented: within hours, thousands of records have been shattered around the world, by margins never seen before. ”
