Global sea ice hits record low as February becomes third-warmest on record
A still from drone footage that captures the scale of Arctic ice melting. File picture: Greenpeace
Ice cover across the world’s oceans plunged to an all-time low last month, as the third-warmest February ever was recorded globally, the EU’s climate change service has said.
According to the latest Copernicus update, daily global sea ice extent – which measures the ice at both poles – reached its all-time minimum last month.
“February 2025 continues the streak of record or near-record temperatures observed throughout the last two years,” said Samantha Burgess, the strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
“One of the consequences of a warmer world is melting sea ice, and the record or near-record low sea ice cover at both poles has pushed global sea ice cover to an all-time minimum.”
Arctic sea ice dropped to its lowest monthly extent ever recorded in February, the third month in a row that a new record was set compared to the same month previous year. Antarctic sea ice, meanwhile, reached its fourth-lowest monthly total.
It may have actually reached its lowest ever later in February, but Copernicus said its data has not been confirmed yet.
While Europe had a relatively cooler month, globally the average air temperature was 1.59C above pre-industrial levels making it the 19th out of the last 20 months to be more than 1.5C above these levels.
Across the Northern Hemisphere’s winter season, the second-highest temperature ever was recorded which was just 0.05C cooler than the record set in 2024.
It also said that Ireland was wetter than average in February, along with parts of Italy, France and the UK. However, other parts of the world experienced much drier Februarys than usual with Argentina experiencing wildfires last month.
At home, Met Éireann has said that Ireland has just had its 15th warmest winter since 1900 with a mild December and February but a cool January due to a cold Arctic airmass descending over the country.
“Pressure was higher than average through most of December, which led to drier-than-average conditions overall, but often quite cloudy,” the forecaster said.
“Storm Darragh, named by the Met Office, crossed over the northern half of the country late on Friday and early Saturday, December 6 and 7, and brought the strongest winds of 2024. The cold airmass over Ireland early in [January] brought heavy snow to the south Midlands, south, southwest and west, which stayed on the ground for several days in places.
"Storm Éowyn, named by the Met Office, reached peak intensity as it brushed by the northwest coast of Ireland in the early hours of Friday, January 24, and brought extreme winds across the country with widespread disruption and power outages.”
In terms of rainfall, Roches Point in Cork had its wettest winter since 1974 at 127% of its long-term average. Kerry saw the season’s wettest day with 37.4mm of rain on January 4.
In terms of sunshine, Shannon Airport in Clare enjoyed the highest amount of winter sun compared to its long-term average.
Met Éireann added: “The highest number of daily sunshine hours recorded this season was 9.6 hours at Gurteen, Co Tipperary on Thursday, February 27. The number of dull days ranged from 35 days at Valentia Observatory, Co Kerry, to 46 days at Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford.”
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