In what some climatologists thought was a shocking result, the latest global temperature measured by satellite set a new all-time record in February 2016, far surpassing the old record set just last month. This is according to Dr. Roy Spencer of the University of Alabama at Huntsville, whose satellite records of global temperature have lagged surface temperatures in recent years. The anomaly from normal conditions was 0.83 degrees C, or over 1 degree F, the highest in over 40 years of satellite records.
While some attribute the warmth to the presence of the strong El Niño, it is pretty clear if you look at the global map that the largest warming was over the Arctic and the Middle East, which is currently experiencing an extreme drought (I’ll have a separate blog post on that tomorrow), although El Niño certainly contributes as well.
You can read more about this at the Washington Post here and Minnesota Public Radio here.
