The world could have its warmest February on record, with spring-like conditions causing early blooms from Japan to Mexico, snow-free ski resorts in Europe and temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in Texas .

While the data has not yet been finalized, three scientists told Reuters that global average temperatures in February are expected to be the highest on record for the month due to climate change and a warming of the eastern Pacific known as El Niño.

If confirmed, it would be the ninth consecutive monthly temperature record to be broken, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA will release final data for February around March 14, according to the NOAA press office.

In the Northern Hemisphere, record temperatures mean “spring is coming earlier,” NOAA atmospheric scientist Karin Gleeson said last week.

“I was in eastern North Carolina yesterday and I saw some trees in bloom and they were full of flowers and I was thinking – it’s February. This seems really weird.”

People in Tokyo also snapped photos of pink cherry blossoms that bloomed about a month earlier than usual, while jacaranda trees, which usually bloom in late March, have been covered in purple buds in Mexico City since January.

As snow melts across Europe this month, ski slopes in Bosnia and Italy become slushy and fallow, while a French resort is rebranding its ski slopes as a hiking and biking destination.

In the United States, temperatures this week were 40 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) above normal, with the Texas town of Killeen recording a high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

Anders Levermann, a physicist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said the increased heat from global warming is wreaking havoc on global systems, causing glaciers at the poles and mountain ranges to melt, rising sea levels and triggering extreme weather.

Jane Baldwin, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California, Irvine, said the record-breaking summer heat that’s happening in the Southern Hemisphere typically leads to a spike in heat-related deaths.

“Heat is a huge silent killer,” she says.

This month, heat waves hit Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Chile, and hot, dry conditions also caused wildfires near Santiago that killed at least 133 people.

Gleason said El Niño is expected to dissipate by mid-2024 and could quickly shift to La Niña (cooling of the eastern Pacific), which could help break up the high temperatures at the end of the year.

Gleason said NOAA predicts there is a 22% chance that 2024 will break the 2023 record for hottest year and a 99% chance of cracking the top five.

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