March is tenth straight month to be hottest on record, scientists say

Earth sets new global heat record for tenth consecutive month, with air and ocean temperatures hitting all-time highs.

For the tenth consecutive month, Earth in March set a new monthly record for global heat — with both air temperatures and the world’s oceans hitting an all-time high for the month, the European Union climate agency Copernicus said.

March 2024 averaged 14.14 degrees Celsius, exceeding the previous record from 2016 by a tenth of a degree, according to Copernicus data. And it was 1.68 degrees C warmer than in the late 1800s, the base used for temperatures before the burning of fossil fuels began growing rapidly.

Since last June, the globe has broken heat records each month, with marine heat waves across large areas of the globe’s oceans contributing.

Scientists say the record-breaking heat during this time wasn't entirely surprising due to a strong El Nino, a climatic condition that warms the central Pacific and changes global weather patterns. “But its combination with the non-natural marine heat waves made these records so breathtaking,” said Woodwell Climate Research Center scientist Jennifer Francis.

Also read: Explained | How El Nino could impact the world’s weather in 2023-24

With El Nino waning, the margins by which global average temperatures are surpassed each month should go down, Ms. Francis said.

Climate scientists attribute most of the record heat to human-caused climate change from carbon dioxide and methane emissions produced by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.