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March saw persistent high pressure bring settled conditions for most of the month. The month started with high pressure over southern England, resulting in bright but cooler than average temperatures in the south while the north saw milder temperatures and some showers. The clear conditions in the south also brought widespread fog as well as frost at times. The high pressure slowly shifted eastwards and the milder temperatures extended further south, reaching 19°C in some areas of Cumbria on the 8th. There were some scattered showers, especially in northern areas, but it was otherwise dry and often sunny. On the 10th a cold front moved into northern Scotland, bringing some snow over high ground. Temperatures across the country then turned colder than average as high pressure near Iceland exerted its influence on the UK. The following brief period of low pressure saw an increase in temperatures, and then high pressure from the southwest moved in, bringing warm and settled conditions. The month closed with high pressure over the UK, with conditions settled, warm and sunny.  


See the full UK Met Office March 2025 climate summary


The global surface temperature was 1.26°C (2.27°F) above the 20th-century average of 12.1°C (53.8°F), making it the third warmest February on record. This is 0.15°C (0.27°F) below the previous record set in 2024 and marked the 46th-consecutive February (since 1980) with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th-century average. It was the fourth warmest February for the global land air temperature and the second warmest February for the global ocean surface temperature. Global temperatures have cooled in recent months as a La Niña episode, the cold phase of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) developed. Global temperatures tend to be cooler during periods of La Niña in comparison to periods with an El Niño present. According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center's February 13 ENSO Diagnostic Discussion, La Niña conditions were present and are expected to persist in the near-term, with a transition to ENSO-neutral likely during March-May 2025 (66% chance). The Northern Hemisphere had its fourth warmest February on record at 1.61°C (2.90°F) above average. Record warm temperatures were widespread in the Arctic, with temperatures in many areas more than 8°C (14°F) above average. In Norway, the national average temperature was 2.1°C (3.78°F) above normal, making it the 17th-warmest February in a measurement series dating to 1901. The Caribbean Islands region had its warmest February on record, 1.16°C (2.09°F) above average, which is 0.06°C (0.11°F) more than the previous record-warm February of 2020. The December 2024–February 2025 global surface temperature was the second-warmest in the 176-year record, 1.29°C (2.32°F) above the 20th-century average of 12.1°C (53.8°F). The ten warmest December–February seasons have all occurred in the eleven-year period since 2015.


In the United Kingdom February was 0.5°C (0.9°F) above the 1991–2020 average. Northern Ireland was notably warm, with temperatures 0.9°C (1.6°F) above average, based on provisional data.



Click here to see the February 2025 NOAA Climate Report  


 










UK Climate Forecast  38 Union Street  Grantham  Lincolnshire  NG31 6NZ  


Ocean temperatures are off the charts right now and scientists are alarmed


One major driver of the heat is believed to be an approaching – and potentially strong – El Niño, a natural climate fluctuation associated with warming in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which has a global heating effect.

February 2024 was the warmest February in England and Wales since records began in 1884. The mean temperature across the whole of the UK was 6.3C (43.3F), the second warmest February for the whole country since the last record of 6.8C (44.2F) was set in 1998. The south of England also had its wettest February in a time series dating back to 1836, with much of the region experiencing more than twice the average rainfall. Average rainfall across the UK was 139.8mm which falls just outside the top 10 wettest Februarys on record. The highest amount of February rainfall ever was 213.7mm in 2020. East Anglia broke records on both fronts having had its warmest and wettest February on record. The area saw 106.4mm of rain throughout February and had a mean temperature of 8.2C (46.8F).

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National climate action plans remain insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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First Quarter UN Climate Change Report 2024



Climate Analysis


The goal of climate analysis is to better understand the Earth’s past and present climate, and to predict future climate response to changes in natural and human-induced factors, such as the Sun, greenhouse gases (e.g., water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane), and aerosols (e.g., from dust storms, pollution, fires, sea spray or volcanic eruptions). Climate analysis studies are routinely carried out using a mix of data from diverse sources including historical climate data, current and past satellite instruments, field campaigns, and outputs from regional and global numerical models. A climatic data element is a measured parameter which helps to specify the climate of a specific location or region, such as precipitation, temperature, wind speed and humidity.




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WMO State of Global Climate 2024

Published 19 March 2025