The average global land and ocean surface temperature last month was 1.17 degrees F (0.65 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average making it the 16th-warmest February on record for the globe — but still the coolest since 2014. 

It was the 14th-warmest February on record for the Northern Hemisphere and the 19th warmest for the Southern Hemisphere. Eastern Canada, much of Europe; and southern and northeastern Asia experienced remarkable warmth in February.

On the flipside, much of North America, Scandinavia and northern Asia saw much cooler-than-normal temperatures — at least 5.4 degrees F (3.0 degrees C) below average.

Other notable climate events in this report

• A month of global extremes: North America had its coldest February since 1994 — and its 20th-coldest February in 112 years of record-keeping — as Oceania experienced its coldest February since 2012. Meanwhile, South America and the Caribbean saw average temperatures for February that placed among the top-10 warmest for the month. 

• Amount of winter snow cover varied: North America was blanketed with its fourth-highest February snow cover on record, while Eurasia had its 14th-lowest February snow cover extent.

• Polar sea-ice coverage was unusually small: Last month’s Arctic sea ice coverage tied with 2017 for the 7th-smallest ice extent on record for February; Antarctica’s sea ice cover ranked 11th smallest on record.