February fifth warmest on record, extreme rain in Europe: EU monitor
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A flooded street along the Dordogne river in south-western France on Feb 19. Western Europe had extreme rainfall and widespread flooding in February.
PHOTO: AFP
PARIS – The world logged its fifth hottest February on record, with western Europe drenched by extreme rainfall and widespread flooding, the European Union’s climate monitor said on March 10.
Global temperatures in February were 1.49 deg C above pre-industrial times, defined as the 1850 to 1900 period before large-scale fossil fuel use drove climate change.
Temperatures and precipitation varied widely in Europe.
The average temperature in Europe was among the three coldest in the past 14 years at minus 0.07 deg C.
But western, southern and south-east Europe experienced above-average temperatures, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Colder conditions were experienced in north-west Russia, Baltic countries, Finland and its Scandinavian neighbours.
“Wet and dry conditions across the continent showed a pronounced contrast: much of western and southern Europe was wetter than average, whereas the rest of the continent... was mostly drier than average,” the service said in its monthly report.
The United States, north-east Canada, the Middle East, Central Asia and east Antarctica had warmer-than-average temperatures.
Sea surface temperatures were the second highest for the month of February.
In the Arctic, the average sea ice extent was at its third lowest level for the month at 5 per cent below average.
In the Antarctic, the monthly sea ice extent was close to average for February – a “sharp contrast to the much below-average” levels observed over the past four years, Copernicus said.
“The extreme events of February 2026 highlight the growing impacts of climate change and the pressing need for global action,” said Dr Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus.
“Europe experienced stark temperature contrasts,” Dr Burgess said.
“Exceptional atmospheric rivers – narrow bands of very moist air – brought record rainfall and widespread flooding to western and southern Europe,” she said.
Human-driven climate change intensified torrential downpours that killed dozens and forced thousands of people from their homes across Spain, Portugal and Morocco between January and February, according to the World Weather Attribution network of climate scientists. AFP
