February global surface TempLS up 0.05 °C from January.

The TempLS mesh global anomaly (1961-90 base) rose from 0.603°C in January to 0.655°C in February. This is almost the same as the 0.054°C rise in the NCEP/NCAR index, while the satellite TLT indices fell by a similar amount.

The main warmth was in the Arctic and Siberia, Eastern USA, and also a band from Nigeria through to W India, bit warmest around the E Mediterranean. There was a band of cold in Canada below the Arctic extending into the US upper mid-west, and in Europe.

Because of the warmth in the Arctic, it is likely that indices will diverge according to the extent to which they represent it. TempLS grid, which is weaker there, showed a drop of about 0.04°C. As often, I would expect GISS to show a rise like TempLS mesh, while NOAA and HADCRUT may fall.

Here is the temperature map. As always, there is a more detailed active sphere map here.

This post is part of a series that has now run for six years. The TempLS mesh data is reported here, and the recent history of monthly readings is here. Unadjusted GHCN is normally used, but if you click the TempLS button there, it will show data with adjusted, and also with different integration methods. There is an interactive graph using 1981-2010 base period here which you can use to show different periods, or compare with other indices. There is a general guide to TempLS here.

The reporting cycle starts with a report of the daily reanalysis index on about the 4th of the month. The next post is this, the TempLS report, usually about the 8th. Then when the GISS result comes out, usually about the 15th, I discuss it and compare with TempLS. The TempLS graph uses a spherical harmonics to the TempLS mesh residuals; the residuals are displayed more directly using a triangular grid in a better resolved WebGL plot here.

A list of earlier monthly reports of each series in date order is here:

1. NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis report
2. TempLS report
3. GISS report and comparison with TempLS