The year 2022 on track to rank as Earth’s fifth warmest
- NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
- Posted On
March continued the planet’s exceedingly warm start to 2022, ranking as the fifth-warmest March in 143 years.
The year so far ranks as the fifth-warmest globally since 1880, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Below are more highlights from NOAA’s latest monthly global climate report:
Climate by the numbers
March 2022
The average global land and ocean-surface temperature for March was 1.71 degrees F (0.95 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average of 54.9 degrees (12.7 degrees C), ranking as the fifth-warmest March in the global climate record.
March 2022 also was the 46th consecutive March and the 447th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average.
Looking regionally, Oceania had its fourth-warmest March on record while Asia had its ninth-warmest. North America, South America, Europe and Africa all had above-average March temperatures, but none of the continents saw a top-15 warm March.
Year to date | January through March
For 2022 so far, the global land and ocean surface temperature averaged 1.58 degrees F (0.88 of a degree C), making it the fifth-warmest year to date on record.
Asia also had its fifth warmest year-to-date temperature on record, while South America, Europe, the Caribbean region and Oceania each saw a January-through-March temperature ranked among the nine warmest on record. Africa and North America also were warmer than average, but saw their coolest year to date since 2012 and 2014, respectively.
A map of the world plotted with some of the most significant climate events that occurred during March 2022.
Other notable climate events in the March report:
• Sea ice was scant at the poles: Antarctic sea ice coverage (extent) was just 1.09 million square miles, the second-smallest extent for March in the 44-year record. Only March of 2017 had a smaller sea ice extent. Across the Arctic, sea ice extent averaged 5.63 million square miles — the ninth-smallest for March since records began in 1979.
• A busy month for the tropics: Nine tropical storms formed globally in March, tying as the second-highest number of tropical storms in March — behind March of 1994 which had a total of 10. Only three of the nine tropical storms reached cyclone (hurricane) strength, which is below normal for the month.