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New data shows March 2025 was Earth's warmest on record

March 2025 was at least equal to the hottest March on record, and probably hotter, data published by independent, non-profit atmospheric science organisation Berkeley Earth reveals.

According to Berkeley Earth, global average temperatures in March 2025 were 1.55°C above the 1850-1900 average (with a range of uncertainty of plus or minus 0.15°C).

The graph below shows that March 2025 temperatures were nominally warmer than March 2024 and March 2016 by 0.02°C and 0.04°C respectively.

Image: Monthly temperature anomaly graph for every March from the mid 1800s to the present day. Source: Berkeley Earth.

Even though the black dot (representing temperatures) for March 2025 is clearly the highest on the graph, it’s worth noting that Berkeley Earth still treats it as statistically equal to 2014 and 2016 due to overlaps in the range of uncertainty.

So officially, Berkeley Earth says 2014, 2016 and 2025 are "tied", even though the raw data has 2025 slightly ahead.

It's also worth mentioning that Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service put March 2025 as only the second-warmest on record, while America's NOAA measured it as the third-warmest.

The differences arise for multiple reasons, including different datasets, methods for handling missing data, and the calculation of global averages.

It’s not like when Australia’s BoM publishes monthly climate statements using the average of data from a set of weather stations across Australia. Measuring accurate climate averages across the oceans and almost 200 countries is a complicated business.

READ MORE: Australia's hottest and 4th-wettest March on record

But the bottom line is that all three major climate monitoring bodies put March 2025 right up near the top up of their respective datasets.

The image below illustrates that there were very few cool weather anomalies anywhere on Earth in March 2025, with Australia among the hottest places compared to its long-term average.

Image: Berkeley Earth estimated that Australia was one of at least five major countries to experience its hottest March on record in 2025. Source: Berkeley Earth.