NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
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Temperature
| As shown in the figure above, the average global temperature for land and ocean surfaces combined was 0.55C above the 1880-1999 long-term mean in February, the 4th warmest such month since 1880. This globally averaged temperature was only 0.31C lower than the record anomaly recorded during the 1998 El-Nino episode. The warm land/ocean anomaly was predominately a reflection of much above normal land surface temperatures. The February land surface anomaly was 1.19C above the long-term mean, (the 4th warmest on record) while ocean surface temperatures were 0.28C above average, only the 10th warmest anomaly recorded since 1880. |
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Extremely warm land surface temperatures are evident in the adjacent map which shows the spatial distribution of mean temperature anomalies in February (based on a 1961-1990 base period). Much above normal temperatures covered almost all of North America and Europe as the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation coincided with a persistent westerly flow across North America. |
| The largest anomalies were recorded in Alaska, as temperatures averaged more than 5C above normal in many areas. Temperature anomalies greater than 3C were widespread across Canada and the central United States as well as many parts of the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Temperatures were from 1 to 2C above normal in western Europe and were only slightly warmer than normal in the western United States. |
| As shown in the adjacent figure, the average temperature was 2.66C above normal in North America, the 3rd warmest such month on record for this region. In Europe, the average temperature was 2.36C above the 1961-1990 mean, while Siberia was 1.70C warmer than normal (Figures below). |  larger image |
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| Although below normal temperatures were not widespread in February, some areas did experience colder than normal temperatures. Of particular note were parts of Mongolia and Turkey, where temperatures were more than 3C below normal in some areas. Parts of extreme eastern Russia, northern India, West Africa and the Caribbean also experienced below normal temperatures in February. As the Southern Hemisphere summer neared its end in February, a persistent trough brought cooler than normal temperatures to Australia. Below normal temperatures were also recorded across much of Argentina and Antarctica. |
Precipitation
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A broad trough covered Australia throughout February and combined with moist tropical air from the northern monsoon to bring above average rainfall to much of the continent. Northern coastal areas received excessive rainfall while southeastern and western coastal areas of the continent were drier than normal. Wetter than normal conditions also prevailed across many South Pacific islands, Southeast Asia, eastern coastal areas of India, and much of South America. |
| Western areas of the United States received abundant moisture in February as a series of low pressure systems moved across southern California bringing precipitation totals to more than 100mm above normal. Precipitation was also above normal across much of northern Europe. The persistent west to east storm track that brought above normal precipitation to much of the western United States left western coastal sections of Canada much drier than normal. Central and eastern areas of Canada, much of Alaska and much of the eastern two-thirds of the United States also experienced drier than normal conditions in February. Precipitation deficits were more than 60mm in areas along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Other widespread areas of below normal precipitation included southern Europe, the Mediterranean, West Africa, Japan and Korea. |
For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in February see the Global Regional page .
References:
Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global
Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol.
Soc., 78, 2837-2849.