March marks the tenth consecutive month of being the hottest on record
March 2024 continued the streak of record-breaking heat, making it the tenth consecutive month of surpassing previous temperature highs, and contributing to what could be the warmest period in the last 100,000 years
March 2024 continued the trend of surpassing its own record as the hottest month, a streak that began in June 2023.
According to measurements conducted by the European Union’s (EU) Copernicus satellite monitoring system, the average surface air temperature for last month reached 14.14 degrees Celsius.
This figure surpasses the 1991-2020 average for March by 0.73 degrees and exceeds the previous record set in March 2020 by 0.10 degrees.
Current era likely warmest in 100,000 years
Furthermore, it marked the tenth consecutive month of record-breaking temperatures, culminating in the hottest 12-month period ever recorded at 1.58 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages.
Nonetheless “the reality is that we’re extraordinarily close, and already on borrowed time,” Burgess said.
“We know that the period that we’re living in right now is likely to be the warmest that it’s been for the last 100,000 years,” Burgess said.
“Is it a phase change? Is the climate system broken? We don’t really understand yet why we have this additional heat in 23/24. We can explain most of it, but not all of it,” Burgess said.
“Incredibly unusual”
The elevated temperatures were felt across vast regions, including Europe, where March temperatures were 2.12 degrees above the 1991-2020 March average, making it the second-hottest March on record for the continent. Particularly, central and eastern Europe experienced temperatures well above average.
Outside Europe, regions like North America, Greenland, eastern Russia, Central and South America, Africa, southern Australia, and parts of Antarctica all experienced temperatures above normal.
Burgess warned that urgent action is needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions to halt further warming. She emphasized the need for rapid reductions in emissions to mitigate the escalating climate crisis.
“That’s incredibly unusual,” she said.
Wet March: More heat, more rain
The ramifications of rising ocean temperatures extend beyond heat; they contribute to increased moisture in the atmosphere, resulting in more extreme weather patterns such as intense rainfall and powerful storms.
Russia is reeling from some of its worst flooding in decades while parts of Australia, Brazil and France experienced an exceptionally wet March. “We know the warmer our global atmosphere is, the more extreme events we’ll have, the worse they will be, the more intense they will be,” Burgess said.
Despite the weakening of the El Niño climate pattern, which typically leads to global temperature spikes, projections suggest that above-average temperatures will persist in the coming months.
Urgent emission cuts needed to curb temperature rise
Amidst these alarming developments, human activities continue to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, further exacerbating the climate crisis.
Scientists from the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—the primary human-caused greenhouse gases—continued to increase in 2023.
Burgess stressed that without significant reductions in emissions, temperatures will continue to rise unabated.
“Until we get to net zero, we will continue to see temperatures rise,” Burgess said.
Source: Newsroom
