Earth Has Its 2nd Warmest February and Warmest Northern Hemisphere Winter

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2939

By: Jeff Masters , 2:42 PM GMT on March 19, 2015

February 2015 was the second warmest February since global record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Wednesday. NASA also rated February 2015 as the 2nd warmest February on record, behind February 1998 (which was exceptionally warm due to the super-El Niño going on at the time.) February 2015's near-record warmth continues a trend of very warm months for the planet--2014 was Earth's warmest calendar year on record, the period spanning the Northern Hemisphere winter (December 2014 - February 2015) was the warmest such period on record, and the past twelve months have been the warmest 12-month period in recorded history

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Arctic sea ice extent during February 2015 was the 3rd lowest in the 36-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). However, during the first half of March, Arctic sea ice extent fell to its lowest level on record, and set a record for the lowest winter maximum, as discussed by Bob Henson in a March 9 blog post.

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