Europe experienced warmest March on record

Europe experienced its warmest March since records began as climate change continues to push temperatures to unprecedented levels, EU scientists said on Tuesday.

Globally, last month was the planet's second-warmest March on record, exceeded only by March in 2024, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin.

March continued a run of extraordinary heat, in which 20 of the past 21 months saw an average global temperature of more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial times. Last year was the planet's hottest on record.

The global average temperature in March was 1.6 °C higher than in pre-industrial times.

The main driver of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, according to scientific consensus among climate scientists.

Samantha Burgess, strategic lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs the C3S service, said Europe also experienced extremes in heavy rain and drought.

Europe last month recorded “many areas experiencing their driest March on record and others their wettest March on record for at least the past 47 years”, Burgess said.

Climate change is making some regions drier, and fuelling the heatwaves that can make droughts more severe by enhancing evaporation rates and drying out soil and vegetation.

The warming of the planet also worsens the heavy rainfall that can cause flooding. That's because warmer air holds more moisture, so storm clouds are “heavier” before they break.

Arctic sea ice fell to its lowest monthly extent last month for any March in the 47-year record of satellite data, C3S said. The previous three months had all also set a record low for the respective month.

C3S' temperature records go back to 1940, and are cross-checked with global temperature records going back to 1850.

Reuters