GISS February global down by 0.17°C from January.

The GISS V4 land/ocean temperature anomaly was 0.67°C in February 2021, down from 0.84°C in January. This matched the 0.2°C reduction reported for TempLS, although with further data that has shrunk to a 0.143C fall. Jim Hansen notes that it was historically cool, although the four Februarys in 2011-2014 were cooler.

As usual here, I will compare the GISS and earlier TempLS plots below the jump.

February global surface TempLS down 0.2°C; coolest month since Feb 2014.

The TempLS mesh anomaly (1961-90 base) was 0.442deg;C in February, down from 0.642°C in January. December and January were down about 0.2°C from earlier months, so that is getting quite cool. Last time it was this cool was Feb 2014, at 0.389°C. There was a smaller 0.08°C drop in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis base index.

The prominent feature was a cold band in N America extending from Alaska to Texas. N Russia was also very cold. There was a warmer band to the south, from Centralk Asia into China. The Arctic was also relatively warm.

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


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