Source: NOAA

The US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said on Thursday that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the sixth warmest on record in February, but a record warm January helped push the winter (December-February) to its highest value since records began in 1880 (1.30 degrees F/0.72 degrees C above the 20th century mean).

El Niño conditions contributed to the season’s record warmth, but the episode rapidly weakened in February, as ocean temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific cooled more than 0.5 degrees F/0.3 degrees C and were near average for the month.

El Niño was originally recognized by fisherman off the coast of South America as the appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific ocean, occurring near the beginning of the year. El Niño means The Little Boy or Christ child in Spanish. This name was used for the tendency of the phenomenon to arrive around Christmas.) A moderate to strong El Niño typically brings mild winters to the northern US.  The lag between El Niño and the full global surface temperature response means that the warming effect of El Niño is extended and therefore has a greater influence the global temperatures during the year.

Separately, the global December-February land-surface temperature was the warmest on record, while the ocean-surface temperature tied for second warmest in the 128-year period of record, approximately 0.1 degree F (0.06 degrees C) cooler than the record established during the very strong El Niño episode of 1997-1998.

During the past century, global surface temperatures have increased at a rate near 0.11 degrees F (0.06 degrees C) per decade, but the rate of increase has been three times larger since 1976, or 0.32 degrees F (0.18 degrees C) per decade, with some of the largest temperature increases occurring in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

Global Highlights:

• Based on preliminary data, globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the warmest on record for boreal winter (December 2006 - February 2007) and sixth warmest for February.
• December 2006 - February 2007 temperatures were above average in Europe, Asia, western Africa, southeastern Brazil, and the northeast half of the United States. Cooler-than-average conditions occurred in parts of Saudi Arabia and central U.S.
• Precipitation during December 2006 - February 2007 was above average in Scandinavia, England, northern Europe, southern Brazil, and the southern Plains to the eastern Great Lakes of the contiguous U.S. Drier than average conditions were observed in southern India, southern Europe, eastern and western U.S., and the eastern coast of Australia.