America News Agency

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Central European regions, and southeastern areas including Greece and Turkey were drier than normal.

The critical 1.5°C threshold was set at the 2015 COP21 climate summit, where 196 countries signed the legally binding Paris Agreement. The parties agreed to keep global warming below 1.5°C or “well below 2°C” above pre-industrial levels. Experts warn that crossing this limit could trigger critical tipping points, leading to devastating and potentially irreversible consequences for many vital Earth systems that support a habitable planet.

Last year, the hottest on record, was the first calendar year in which temperatures were consistently above 1.5°C.

Although this does not indicate that the critical threshold – which scientists have measured for decades – has been permanently surpassed, it serves as a clear warning that humanity is approaching a point of no return faster than expected.

Temperatures in Europe, the fastest-warming continent, remained above average, with the regional average temperature at 6.03°C – 2.41°C above the March 1991–2020 average.

Samantha Burgess, Climate Strategic Leader at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said the continent was also affected by “opposite extremes in rainfall”. Wetter-than-average conditions were seen in the Iberian Peninsula, Norway, parts of Iceland, and northwestern Russia. Meanwhile, the UK, Ireland, Central Europe, Greece, and Turkey experienced drier-than-normal conditions.

Australia also recorded its hottest March on record, marking the end of the continent’s hottest 12-month period in history.

Simon Grainger, a senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said that low-pressure systems – which typically bring cooler conditions to the country’s south at this time of year – did not develop last month. “At no point during the month did we see temperatures fall. All of this is part of a global pattern of record-breaking heat,” he said.