March 2026 was the fourth-warmest month on record across the world, with temperatures 1.48°C higher than before industrialisation, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), said.
Sea surface temperatures were also the highest ever recorded for March, which reflects that El Niño conditions are likely to happen later this year.
The ERA5 dataset shows that March 2026 was the fourth-warmest March ever, with an average surface air temperature of 13.94°C. This is 0.53°C higher than the average for March from 1991 to 2020. The warmest March on record was in 2024.
The average temperature from 1850 to 1900 was used to define the pre-industrial level. In March 2026, it was 1.48°C higher than that, the C3S report said.
Warming seas
According to the report, the average sea surface temperature (SST) for March 2026 over 60°S–60°N was 20.97°C, the second-highest on record for the month. The warmest March recorded was in 2024 during the last El Niño event.
For the second half of the year, many climate centres predict a shift from neutral to El Niño conditions.
The daily SST kept rising throughout March, and it is now close to the record highs set in 2024.
Heat extremes
Europe had its second-warmest March on record, and most of the continent was drier than usual. This weather pattern comes after a February that was colder and wetter than usual, with widespread flooding. It was the third-coldest February in the past 14 years for the continent.
March was also marked by scorching and dry weather in other parts of the world. For example, there was an unprecedented early heatwave, and parts of the US and Mexico were drier than usual.
C3S recorded significant differences in temperature anomalies that were warmer and cooler than normal across the Northern Hemisphere. In the Arctic, both the annual peak extent of sea ice and the March monthly average were the lowest ever recorded, the report said.
Carlo Buontempo, Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at ECMWF, commented: “Copernicus data for March 2026 tells a sobering story: 1.48°C above pre-industrial levels, the lowest Arctic sea ice extent on record for March, and sea surface temperatures again approaching historic highs. Each figure is striking on its own; together, they paint a picture of a climate system under sustained and accelerating pressure.”
Warm Shift
The average temperature across European land in March 2026 was the second-highest on record at 5.88°C, which was 2.27°C above the 1991–2020 March average. The warmest March recorded was in 2025.
Most of Europe had warmer-than-normal temperatures, with the warmest weather being in northwest Russia, northern Fennoscandia, and the Baltic States. Türkiye, southern Europe, and most of Iceland had weather that was a little cooler than normal.
Outside of Europe, the US had the hottest weather, with a long heatwave affecting the western part of the country. The Arctic, northeast Russia, and parts of Antarctica also had warmer-than-average temperatures. On the other hand, Alaska, most of Canada, southern Greenland, and northwest Siberia all had freezing weather, the Copernicus report said.
Published on April 10, 2026