Climate watchdog reports warmest March on record in Europe, second warmest globally
April 8 (UPI) -- Europe recorded its warmest-ever March with an average land temperature of 6.03 degrees Celsius, 2.41 degrees Celsius higher than the 1991-2020 average for the month, the European Union's climate monitor said Tuesday.
Temperatures were above average across the bulk of the continent with eastern Europe and southwest Russia experiencing the warmest temperatures while the coldest occurred in Spain where the temperature was below average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service's monthly bulletin.
The next warmest March on record for Europe was in 2014 with an average temperature of 5.77 degrees Celsius.
"March 2025 was the warmest March for Europe highlighting once again how temperatures are continuing to break records. It was also a month with contrasting rainfall extremes across Europe with many areas experiencing their driest March on record and others their wettest March on record for at least the past 47 years," said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
Precipitation-wise, wetter-than-average conditions were recorded across much of southern Europe notably in Spain, which in addition to unseasonably cool temperatures, was pummeled by a series of storms and experienced widespread flooding. Norway, Iceland and north-western Russia were also wetter than average for the month.
By contrast, a broad swathe of Europe extending from Ireland and the United Kingdom in the northwest and arcing over central Europe and the Black Sea down to Greece and Turkey in the southeast experienced drier-than-average conditions over the month.
Globally, March was the second-warmest month with an average surface air temperature of 14.06 degrees Celsius, 0.65 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average and 1.6 degrees Celsius above the average temperature in the "pre-industrial era," which the service defines as 1850-1900.
The United States, Mexico, parts of Asia, and Australia saw above-average temperatures but they were most pronounced over extensive areas of the Arctic, especially the Canadian Archipelago and Baffin Bay with Arctic sea ice posting its lowest extent for March -- down by an average 6% -- in the 47-years satellite have been tracking it.
With Arctic sea ice also topping out at the farthest extent of its limit for the year in March, instead of later in the season, it also set a new record low for the maximum extent of its reach.
Northern Canada, Hudson Bay, and eastern Russia, including the Kamchatka Peninsula, posted temperatures that were the furthest below average.
Much of North America, southwestern, central and easternmost Asia, southwestern Australia, parts of southern Africa and southeastern South America experienced a drier than average March while eastern Canada, the western United States, the Middle East, much of Russia, parts of central Asia, southeastern Africa and northeastern Australia had a wetter than average month.
In January, the climate watchdog of the 27-member country economic and political bloc reported that the average global surface temperature for 2024 exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels threshold set by the Paris Agreement for the first time and was the warmest year on record.
The scientists linked the jump to the 15.1 degrees Celsius average temperature recorded over the 12 months to Dec. 31 from the 13.5 degrees Celsius average estimated in the 1850-1900 period to more dangerous heat waves, wildfires, flooding and increasingly ferocious storms.
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