Surface air temperature for March 2024 (2024)

March 2024

March 2024 saw temperatures at or above the 1991-2020 average across the whole of Europe. As in February, the largest anomalies occurred over central and eastern regions of the continent. Germany reported its warmest March since measurements began in 1881. The Netherlands likewise reported its warmest March in a record dating from 1901, with no frost day experienced for only the second time. Austria recorded its warmest March at lowland stations, though not at altitude. Late in the month, many countries further to the east, including Croatia, Latvia and Moldova, saw national records for high March temperatures being equalled or exceeded.

Outside Europe, temperatures were much above average over eastern North America (where the month had begun with record low levels of ice cover over the Great Lakes), Greenland and eastern Russia. Temperatures were especially high over Central America (where drought continues to reduce shipping through the Panama Canal) and parts of South America, particularly over Venezuela and a central region of the continent. Many parts of Africa also experienced exceptionally high temperatures. South Australia had its warmest March on record. Antarctic temperatures were relatively high over Marie Byrd Land and east of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Land regions with notably below-average temperatures include western Siberia, the western USA and central Canada, rain-affected western and northern Australia, southern Chile and Argentina, and parts of Antarctica.

Air temperatures were above average over large parts of the ocean, although El Niño conditions continued to weaken over the eastern equatorial Pacific. Higher-than-average temperatures persisted over the southern Indian Ocean and parts of the southern Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins. Air temperatures were at record levels for March over much of the tropics, the eastern North Atlantic and the North Pacific. Temperatures were below average over several mainly small areas of the world’s ocean, most extensively over much of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean, and in the Southern Hemisphere to the south and west of Chile and in a band from Antarctica to New Zealand.

The high marine air temperatures were associated with continuing record sea-surface temperatures (SSTs). The daily SST averaged over 60°S–60°N (see our Climate Pulse web app) continued in March 2024 at or just a few hundredths of a degree below the new absolute high of 21.09°C reached at the end of February. Its average for March, 21.07°C, has become the highest monthly value on record, marginally exceeding the previous monthly high of 21.06°C recorded for February.

Sea surface temperature percentiles for March 2024. Colour categories refer to the percentiles of the temperature distributions for the 1991–2020 reference period. The extreme (“Coolest” and “Warmest”) categories refer to the period 1979–2024. Values are calculated only for the ice-free oceans. Areas covered with sea ice and ice shelves in March 2024 are shown in light grey. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF
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Although the current El Niño event has been an important contributor to the high global SSTs observed over the past months, SSTs in the eastern equatorial Pacific fell below the 1991-2020 average in places during March. SSTs were nevertheless the highest on record over a sizeable part of the tropical western Pacific. Moreover, high SSTs in ocean regions outside of the equatorial Pacific are a key contributor to the current global SST records. The above map of SST percentiles shows that SSTs reached record high values for March in a substantial portion of the Atlantic Ocean (subtropical North and South Atlantic, equatorial Atlantic), in the western Indian Ocean, in the Southern Ocean sector south of South Africa, as well as in various parts of the extratropical Pacific Ocean.

Globally, March 2024 was:

• 0.73°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average for March
• the warmest March on record, 0.10°C warmer than March 2016, the previous warmest March
• 1.68°C warmer than an estimate of the pre-industrial average for 1850-1900
• the tenth consecutive month (since June 2023) for which the monthly temperature has been the warmest on record for the respective month of the year.

The daily global temperature anomaly relative to 1991-2020 ranged from 1.0°C on 14 March to just below 0.5°C a week or so later (see Climate Pulse).

European-average temperature anomalies are generally larger and more variable than global anomalies. The European-average temperature for March 2024 was2.2°Chigher than the 1991-2020 average, making the month the second warmest March on record for Europe, just 0.02°C cooler than March 2014.

The last 12 months - April 2023 to March 2024

Temperatures averaged over the last 12 months were:

• above the 1991-2020 average over most of the globe, including much of Europe
• below average over most of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden
• well above average over land areas that include northeastern Canada, western Asia, and parts of South America, Africa and Antarctica
• a little below average over several small areas of land, including parts of Australia, Antarctica and northwestern India
• well above average over some seas around Antarctica and in the European sector of the Arctic, and over much of the North Pacific, part of the South Pacific, the Atlantic and the south-western Indian Ocean
• well above average over the eastern equatorial Pacific, associated with the current El Niño event
• below average over a few oceanic areas, particularly over part of the south-eastern Pacific Ocean and east of Greenland.

Averaging over twelve-month periods smooths out shorter-term variations in regional- and global-average temperatures. Globally, the last 12 months were warmer than any previous 12-month period, with a temperature0.70°Cabove the 1991-2020 average, much higher than the peak values of 0.46°C above average reached for 2015/16 and 2019/20. 2023 is the warmest calendar year on record, with a temperature 0.60°C above the 1991-2020 average.

Using an annual-mean offset of 0.88°C (see side box), the average global temperature for the 12 months to March 2024 is estimated to be 1.58°C above the 1850-1900 level. The average over the fifteen months from the beginning of 2023 is 1.53°C above the 1850-1900 level.

There is more variability in average European temperatures, but relatively dense observational coverage of the continent reduces uncertainty. The average for this latest 12-month period is 1.12°Cabove the 1991-2020 average. 2020 is the warmest calendar year on record for Europe, with a temperature 1.19°C above the 1991-2020 average.

Note on global values from ERA5 and other temperature datasets

There is general agreement among datasets that the period since 2015 is much warmer globally than any previous period. There is also agreement that global temperature has risen at an average rate close to 0.2°C per decade since the late 1970s. There is nevertheless still some spread between the datasets for recent years, such as for 2021 and 2022, and the annual average temperature anomalies for these years from ERA5 are generally higher than those from the five other datasets considered. The differences range from 0.01 to 0.07°C for 2016-2022. The range is 0.00 to 0.06°C if air temperature over sea is replaced by sea-surface temperature for ERA5 and the other dataset for which sea-surface temperature was not used by design. The remaining differences depend partly on the extent to which datasets represent the relatively warm conditions that have predominated over the Arctic and Antarctic during these years. Differences elsewhere in estimates of sea-surface temperature and surface air temperature over land have been further factors.

The surface air temperature analysis homepage explains more about the production and reliability of the values presented here, but has yet to be updated to include the new information on dataset spread mentioned above.

Read more about long-term temperature changes for the globe, the Arctic and Europe in the Temperature indicator.