toronto weather

Toronto just broke another all-time weather record and the trend is concerning

Last month was the warmest February on record globally, marking the ninth month in a row with record-breaking temperatures, according to new data from Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring service. 

Scientists revealed that February was 1.77 C warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month, and 0.81 C above 1991-2020 levels. The global average for the past year — specifically between March 2023 and February 2024 — was the hottest in recorded history, at 1.56 C above pre-industrial levels. 

The latest record is just another sombre reminder of the impacts of human-caused global warming that are currently being exacerbated by El Niño, a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. 

"El Niñ0 likely played a critical role in February's warm. Persistent upper-level ridges over Central Canada — a hallmark of strong El Niño winters — created favourable conditions for above-seasonal temperatures," The Weather Network wrote on Saturday. 

According to the weather agency, Toronto Pearson International Airport finished February with an average temperature of 0.2 C, which shattered the previous all-time warmest average February temperature of -0.2 C back in 2017. 

"The drumbeat of warm temperature records is also a glaring example of our changing climate. Sea surface temperatures are running at summertime levels across much of the Atlantic Ocean," the report reads

"The world just experienced its hottest 12-month period on record. Warm temperature extremes are more likely as the atmosphere's baseline temperatures continue to rise." 

Lead photo by

Phil Marion


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