CNN reports that February temperatures over land and ocean averaged a scorching 1.210 Celsius above the 20th century average. February also had temperatures 2.310 Celsius above normal, the first time this is happening since over 135 years of available data.
Heat records show that the month of February 2016 tops all the heat records of the 1,646 months between 1880 and now.
February 2016, is also the 10th
consecutive month that ranks as the hottest one on the planet- so May
last year to January this has been the hottest months since 1880.
Meaning if this continues till May this year, the hottest year on earth
will be between May 2015 and May 2016.
February 2016 also had temperatures 2.310 Celsius above normal, the first time this is happening since over 135 years of available data.
According to ABC Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Melbourne, David Karoly, said, “The Earth in the instrumental records has not been hotter than it was in February 2016.” According to him, the El Nino
of 1997-1998 was hotter than 2016, but heat records of February 2016
was way higher than that of 1997-98, showing that there were other
factors that contributed to the increase in heat; chief of which is the
global warming caused by greenhouse gases.
**El Nino is the warm phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation
(ENSO), marked by warm ocean water that develops in the central and
east-central equatorial Pacific. It is characterized by high air
pressure in the Western Pacific and low air pressure in the Eastern
Pacific. The cold phase is called La Nina with air pressures high in the Eastern and low in Western Pacific. ENSO controls global changes in temperatures and rainfall.