JOIN USIt was the hottest March on record across globe
“Warmer-than-normal conditions dominated the globe, especially in northern Africa, South Asia and Canada,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement.
Combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for March 2010 was the warmest on record at 13.5 degrees Celsius, which is 0.77 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 12.7 C.
Average ocean temperatures were the hottest for any March since record-keeping began in 1880, while the global land surface was the fourth warmest for any March on record, NOAA said.
It added that the January-March period was the planet’s fourth warmest on record.
The US agency cited two Asian examples of high March mercury: Tibet had its second warmest March since records began in 1951, it said, while Delhi, India had its own second warmest March since 1901 record-keeping.
The record March temperatures are likely to give further ammunition to those who believe climate change is an urgent crisis which must be addressed at the global level.