February could break a new heat record globally

Only half the month has passed – but it’s already looking set to be the warmest February on record.

February is about to break a record number of heat records, according to meteorologists The Guardian.

Every month since last May has been the hottest month of its kind on record. And the trend does not look to be broken in February, according to researcher Zeke Hausfather at the climate institute Berkeley Earth.

Climatologist and blogger Maximiliano Herrera calls the increase in heat records in February “insane”, “total madness” and “climate history being rewritten”.

During the first half of the month, 140 countries have had heat records for February, he added.

And according to hurricane specialist Michael Lowry, surface temperatures in the part of the Atlantic where strong hurricanes form have been “as warm in February as they usually are in mid-July.”