February set to get warmest-ever tag

Washington, February 29

The world likely notched its warmest February on record, as spring-like conditions caused flowers to bloom early from Japan to Mexico, left ski slopes bald of snow in Europe and pushed temperatures to 38° C in Texas.

While data has not been finalised, three scientists told Reuters that February is on track to have the highest global average temperature ever recorded for that month, thanks to climate change and the warming in the Eastern Pacific Ocean known as El Nino. If confirmed, that would be the ninth consecutive monthly temperature record to be broken, according to data from the US.

Record high temperatures in the summer - now underway in Southern Hemisphere - generally leads to a spike in heat-related deaths, said Jane Baldwin, an atmospheric scientist at University of California Irvine. — Reuters

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