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The tide moves in at Torrey Pines Beach in Del Mar, Calif., where beach goers enjoys unusually warm temperatures for February Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016.(Photo: Lenny Ignelzi, AP)
Global temperatures smashed records for the 10th straight month in February, which was a whopping<span style="color: Red;">*</span>2.18 degrees above average, according to data released Thursday by the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The spike<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"unprecedented,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Penn State meteorologist Michael Mann. Records are typically broken by hundredths or tenths of degrees. No month has ever registered a mark that high above normal.
Mann attributed the record to a mix of global warming (roughly 50%), climate pattern<span style="color: Red;">*</span>El<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Niño (25%) and month-to-month temperature fluctuations (25%).<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The fingerprint of human-caused climate change isn’t just evident, it’s dominant, Mann said.
El<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Niño's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>role in the temperature shift means records<span style="color: Red;">*</span>will continue to be broken<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for a few more months<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but probably won't become a permanent situation, NASA climate scientist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Gavin Schmidt told the Associated Press.
El Niño — a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>natural warming of Pacific waters that impacts weather across the globe<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>forecast to slowly weaken over the next few months and be replaced by the cooler-than-normal temperatures of La Niña, the Climate Prediction Center said.
The planet also saw its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>warmest meteorological winter — December to February — on record, topping<span style="color: Red;">*</span>last year's record by over half a degree, NOAA reported.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>NOAA's data jibes with global temperature data from NASA released earlier this week.
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