Above-average global temperatures in March
March 2025 ranked third-warmest March on record
Map of global selected significant climate anomalies and events in March 2025. (NOAA/NCEI)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – March 2025 was the third-warmest March on record, the NOAA reported on April 10. However, temperatures were cooler than normal in central Canada and eastern Asia.
The March global surface temperature was 1.31 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average of 12.7 C. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a six per cent chance that 2025 will rank as the warmest year on record.
It was the second-warmest March for the global land air temperature and the second-warmest March for the global ocean surface temperature. Europe and Oceania had their warmest Marches on record, and Africa ranked third warmest.
March temperatures were above average across much of the global land surface, particularly over the Arctic, Alaska, the eastern United States, most of Europe, northwest Africa, and Australia. Much of central Canada and eastern Asia were much colder than average, and a few other areas such as southern Africa were slightly below normal. Sea surface temperatures were above average over most areas, while parts of the eastern tropical Pacific and parts of the Southern Ocean were below average.
The Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in March was well below average, ranking seventh smallest on record. Snow cover over North America and Greenland was below average (by 440,300 square kilometres), and Eurasia was also below average (by 1.424 million square km). A lack of snow cover was particularly obvious over the United States and Europe.
Global sea ice extent was the second smallest in the 47-year record at 17.09 million square km, which was 2.02 million square km below the 1991 to 2020 average. Arctic sea ice extent was below average (by 880,600 square km), ranking lowest on record and Antarctic extent was below average (by 1.14 million square km), ranking fourth lowest on record.
Eight named storms occurred across the globe in March, which was slightly above the long-term average of six. A record five named storms occurred in the southwestern Indian Ocean while four occurred in the Australian region (one storm traversed the two basins).
