February global surface TempLS up 0.053°C from January.

The TempLS mesh anomaly (1961-90 base) was 1.032deg;C in February vs 0.979°C in January. This was a contrast to the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis base index, which barely changed. It makes it the second warmest February in the record, just behind the El Niño 2016 at 1.133°C. That is remarkable, because in this index February was the warmest month of that very stong El Niño.

The prominent feature, as with January, was a huge band of warmth stretching from Europe through to E Siberia and China. Again N America was also warm, except for Alaska (cold). Greenland and the Arctic archipelago were also cool. Africa and S America were mostly warm, Antarctica mixed.

Here is the temperature map, using the LOESS-based map of anomalies.


As always, the 3D globe map gives better detail.

This post is part of a series that has now run since 2011. 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