<h2>February global surface TempLS down 0.2&deg;C; coolest month since Feb 2014.</h2>

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.

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