Correction : reader John Finn has pointed out that GISS recorded February as the second hottest February ever, not the hottest.
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February, 2010 was a very cold month across the US, much of Europe and most of Russia and Mongolia. It was the fourth snowiest month on record in North America (out of 517 months) and the eighth snowiest month on record in the Northern Hemisphere.
GISS shows it as the (second) hottest February on record. Why?
Mainly because temperatures in the Canadian Arctic were not quite as cold as normal. Note the “hot spot” on the RSS map above. For example, Alert averaged a balmy -22ºF (-30ºC) compared to last year when it was a frigid -27ºF.
A large percentage of the humans on the planet were freezing in near record cold, yet it was the hottest February ever.
No doubt the Polar Bears were sweating though in that -30ºC weather in the Canadian Arctic.