March 2024 was the hottest month ever recorded: breaking the record of 2016

March 2024 was warmer globally than any previous recorded month of March, with an average surface air temperature of 14.14°C, 0.73°C above the 1991-2020 average for March and 0.10°C above the previous high set in March 2016. This is the tenth consecutive month that is the warmest ever recorded for the respective month of the year. This is the finding of the Copernicus Climate Change (C3S) service, implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission.

All results reported are based on computer-generated analyses and the Era5 dataset, using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world. Last month was 1.68°C warmer than the March average for 1850-1900, the pre-industrial reference period. Moreover, the global average temperature for the past twelve months (April 2023 - March 2024) is the highest ever recorded, 0.70°C above the average for 1991-2020 and 1.58°C above the pre-industrial average for 1850-1900.