A combination of strong El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean and human-caused warming drove temperatures in February 2016 to levels never before seen since records began in 1880, according to new NASA data.The data shows that February had a global average surface temperature of 1.35 degrees Celsius above the 1951 to 1980 average.
The 1.35 degree Celsius temperature anomaly in February beat the previous record high departure from average for any month seen in January 2016.
According to NASA, the global average surface temperature during January was 1.14 degrees Celsius above average compared to the 1951 to 1980 average.
This means that temperatures in February 2016 had the largest departure from average of any month in NASA’s records since 1880.