Heat streak was at historic high in March

'WE'RE VERY FIRMLY IN THE GRIP OF HUMAN-CAUSED CLIMATE CHANGE'

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Global temperatures hovered at historic highs in March, Europe's climate monitor said yesterday, prolonging an unprecedented heat streak that has pushed the bounds of scientific explanation.

In Europe, it was the hottest March ever recorded by a significant margin, said the Copernicus Climate Change Service, driving rainfall extremes across a continent, warming faster than any other.

The world, meanwhile, saw the second-hottest March in the Copernicus dataset, sustaining a near-unbroken spell of record or near-record-breaking temperatures that has persisted since July 2023.

An anomaly

Since then, nearly every month has been at least 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than it was before the industrial revolution, when massive amounts of coal, oil and gas were used.