Surface air temperature anomaly for February 2026 relative to the February average for the period 1991-2020
| Photo Credit:
Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF
The month witnessed intense storms and unusually heavy rainfall, triggering severe flooding across parts of western Europe, while Arctic sea ice extent dropped to the third-lowest level on record for February.
The month was marked by a series of intense storms and heavy precipitation, particularly across western Europe and northern Africa. France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco recorded exceptionally wet conditions, resulting in severe flooding in several regions. February also witnessed flooding events elsewhere, including in Australia, Mozambique and Botswana.
Climate change impact
Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at ECMWF, said, “The extreme events of February 2026 highlight the growing impacts of climate change and the pressing need for global action. With global temperatures reaching 1.49°C above pre-industrial levels – the fifth-warmest February on record – Europe experienced stark temperature contrasts. Exceptional atmospheric rivers – narrow bands of very moist air – brought record rainfall and widespread flooding to western and southern Europe, while Arctic sea ice extent ranked as the third-lowest for the month.”
February 2026 ranked as the fifth-warmest February globally, with an average surface air temperature of 13.26°C, according to the ERA5 dataset. This was 0.53°C higher than the 1991–2020 February average and 1.49°C above the estimated 1850–1900 pre-industrial level. The warmest February on record continues to be 2024.
In Europe, the average land temperature during February 2026 was −0.07°C, about 0.10°C lower than the 1991–2020 average, making it one of the three coldest Februarys recorded across the continent in the past 14 years. The continent experienced sharp regional contrasts, with warmer-than-average conditions across western, southern, and southeastern Europe, whereas Fennoscandia, the Baltic States, and northwest Russia recorded colder-than-average conditions.
Outside Europe, temperatures were above the average across the US, northeast Canada, West Asia, Central Asia and East Antarctica. Colder conditions were seen in Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland and northern Russia, showing the clear regional contrasts in temperature patterns.
For the boreal winter from December 2025 to February 2026, the global average temperature was the fifth highest recorded, at 0.51°C above the 1991–2020 average.
In Europe, the winter was among the two coldest in the past 13 years, at 0.09°C above the long-term average, reflecting the sharp regional contrasts in temperature and precipitation observed during February.
Sea Surface temperatures
The average sea surface temperature across 60°S–60°N in February 2026 was 20.88°C, making it the joint second-highest value on record for the month, alongside February 2025, and 0.18°C lower than the January 2024 record. A marked contrast between cooler waters in the central and western North Atlantic and warmer subtropical waters likely favoured the formation of storms that later moved towards Europe.
Published on March 10, 2026