A record-breaking March: the warmest in Europe and the lowest ice level in the Arctic
The data contrasts with the rains and cold that have affected the Iberian Peninsula.
BarcelonaThis year's March was the warmest month ever recorded across Europe. The average monthly temperature across the continent was 6.03°C, 2.41°C above the March average for the 1991-2020 period. This is according to the monthly report from the European Copernicus program's climate change service, published this Tuesday.
This trend has been quite widespread, especially in eastern Europe and southwestern Russia. This new record of continental warmth contrasts sharply with the data from the Iberian Peninsula, which has been the major exception this March, with abundant rainfall and below-average cool temperatures. This is due to the anticyclone dominating the center and north of the continent, allowing storms to frequent our country.
"March was the warmest ever in Europe, demonstrating once again how temperatures continue to break records," explains Samantha Burgess, Climate Strategy Lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), in the report. "Many areas experienced their driest March on record, and others their wettest March in at least 47 years," she adds.
The Copernicus data also confirm another record due to the climate crisis and global warming: Arctic sea ice extent reached its lowest ever March in 47 years of satellite observations. It was 6% below average, marking the fourth consecutive month in which the corresponding monthly ice deficit record has been broken. Antarctic sea ice recorded its fourth lowest monthly extent in March, at 24% below average.
Twenty months exceeding the fateful 1.5 °C
Across the planet, this was the second warmest March on record. The global average temperature was 14.06°C, just 0.08°C below the record set in March 2024. This figure is 0.65°C above the reference average (1991-2020), but 1.6°C above the pre-industrial average. In fact, this March is the twentieth of the last twenty-one months in which the global average temperature has exceeded the fateful 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels set as the red line in the Paris Agreement.
As for global seawater, the temperature was 20.96°C, the second highest value for a March, and just 0.12°C below the record set in the same month in 2024. Some waters in the Mediterranean or the Atlantic.
