The world recorded its fifth hottest February on record, with western Europe experiencing extreme rainfall and widespread flooding, according to the European Union’s climate monitor.
Global temperatures last month were 1.49C above pre-industrial levels, defined as the 1850-1900 period before large-scale fossil fuel use accelerated climate change, reports RTE.
Temperature and precipitation varied significantly across Europe.
The average temperature in Europe was among the three coldest in the past 14 years at -0.07C, while western, southern and southeast Europe experienced above-average temperatures, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, reports RTE.
Colder conditions were recorded in northwest Russia, the Baltic states, Finland and other Scandinavian countries.
“Wet and dry conditions across the continent showed a pronounced contrast: much of western and southern Europe was wetter than average, whereas the rest of the continent … was mostly drier than average,” the service said in its monthly report, reports RTE.
Other regions including the United States, northeast Canada, the Middle East, Central Asia and east Antarctica saw warmer than average temperatures.
Sea surface temperatures reached the second-highest levels recorded for February, while Arctic sea ice extent was at its third-lowest for the month, 5% below average, reports RTE.
In contrast, Antarctic sea ice was close to average for February – a “sharp contrast to the much below average” levels seen over the past four years, Copernicus said.
Human-driven climate change intensified torrential downpours that killed dozens and forced thousands from their homes across Spain, Portugal and Morocco between January and February, according to the World Weather Attribution network, reports RTE.
“The extreme events of February 2026 highlight the growing impacts of climate change and the pressing need for global action,” said Dr Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus.
“Europe experienced stark temperature contrasts,” Dr Burgess added.
“Exceptional atmospheric rivers – narrow bands of very moist air – brought record rainfall and widespread flooding to western and southern Europe,” she said, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dr Burgess said south-east Ireland was among the worst-affected regions during last month’s heavy rainfall.
She explained there were three main factors driving the increased rainfall.
“In a warming climate, we know that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. So, in Europe in particular, when it rains, it rains more intensely.
“That has meant that throughout winter this year we’ve had milder but wetter conditions and that’s because the polar jet has moved further south. Normally it’s up hitting Scandinavia,” Dr Burgess said, reports RTE.
She added: “The third one is atmospheric rivers. So, because the atmosphere can hold more moisture, and we’ve had really high sea surface temperatures across the Atlantic, that’s driven these intense atmospheric flows of water vapour, which has been dropping out and hitting Europe with severe storms.”
Dr Burgess said all of these factors have been influenced by climate change.
“We’ve always had bad storms, and it’s not unusual to have a bad storm at this time of year but we had seven or eight storms in a row. That frequency of storms, with record amounts of precipitation also, meant that the ground was super saturated. So the ground couldn’t absorb any more because of the frequency of the storms, which then meant runoff was more challenging to deal with,” reports RTE.
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