Climate and environment updates: How planet's climate changed since first Earth Day

Last month was the second-warmest March on record globally, according to new data analyzed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). And once again, the planet exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius, as established by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, coming in slightly above that at 1.6 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average (1850-1900).

Last month marked the 20th of the previous 21 months to exceed the warming threshold established in the Agreement. The 1.5-degree ceiling was established because scientists and international climate organizations say limiting global temperatures to that level significantly reduces the risks and impacts of climate change.

It is important to note that exceeding the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold temporarily is not seen as a failure to limit warming under the Agreement since it looks at the climate average over multiple decades. Still, the trend is concerning.

The planet may have fallen just short of breaking another global temperature record for March, but Europe soared to a new record. The March average temperature over that continent was 2.41 degrees Celsius, or 4.34 degrees Fahrenheit, above the 1991-2020 average for the month, making it the warmest March on record.

Globally, the average surface air temperature was 14.06 degrees Celsius, or 57.31 degrees Fahrenheit.

Global daily sea surface temperatures across most of the world’s oceans remain well above average, including across the Atlantic Basin. The report found that the average global sea surface temperature for March 2025 was 69.73 degrees Fahrenheit, the second-highest value on record for the month.

Unusually warm sea surface temperatures could once again play a major role in tropical cyclone development during the upcoming Atlantic Hurricane Season, which begins on June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will release its official outlook for the forthcoming season later next month.

Arctic sea ice extent dipped to its lowest value on record for the month of March at 6% below average. This was the fourth straight month with record-low ice cover for the corresponding month. Antarctic sea ice extent was 24% below average for the month, according to Copernicus.

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck

Hurricanes Beryl, Helen and Milton were so deadly and destructive that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says it will never use those names again.

During the hurricane committee's annual meeting earlier this week, the group decided that names from the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season will no longer be used for future tropical storms and hurricanes. Beryl, Helen and Milton join Katrina, Sandy, Maria and Harvey on the retired list.

The WMO's Hurricane Committee is responsible for the tropical cyclone name lists. It's the first time since 2020 that three names have been retired from the previous Atlantic Basin season. The list of names for tropical storms and hurricanes repeat every six years. In 2030, Beryl, Helene, and Milton will be replaced by Brianna, Holly and Miguel. Helene had been on the rotating list since 1958.

On July 2, Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin on record and significantly impacted several Caribbean Islands as it marched west as a major hurricane. The storm also affected Jamaica, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, and made a final landfall as a category one hurricane along the Texas Gulf Coast on July 8.

Helene became the deadliest continental U.S. hurricane since Katrina in 2005, killing more than 200 people after making landfall as the strongest hurricane on record to strike Florida's Big Bend region on Sept. 26. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates Helene caused nearly $79 billion in damages in the U.S.

Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm in western Florida on Oct. 9, affecting many of the same areas hit by Helene two weeks prior. Milton caused multiple storm-related fatalities and an estimated $34.3 billion in damages in the U.S.

The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1, with NOAA releasing its official outlook for the upcoming season next month.

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck

Each year, visitors from across the U.S. and around the world flock to Washington, D.C., to view an iconic symbol of nature’s beauty -- the cherry blossoms that line the city’s Tidal Basin. The National Park Service announced on Friday that the cherry blossoms have reached peak bloom, which is when 70% of the Yoshino Cherry blossoms are open. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 1.5 million people come to experience the beautiful blooms each year during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

2025 marks the 7th consecutive year that peak bloom has occurred earlier than the April 3 average. It’s also the 6th year in a row with a March peak bloom date.

Since 1921, peak bloom dates have shifted and are now about eight days earlier, on average, according to the EPA. Last year, the peak bloom date of March 17 tied for the second-earliest on record.

Human-amplified climate change is causing seasonal shifts, including milder, shorter winter seasons and spring warmth beginning earlier, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. These shifts are contributing to the long-term change in peak bloom dates.

And it’s not just warming temperatures that are impacting the renowned annual event. Rising sea levels can impact the quality of the blooms and even the health of the cherry trees themselves. Over the last century, sea levels in the Washington area have risen by more than a foot, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. When the Tidal Basin floods, saltwater saturates the soil and can enter the roots of the cherry trees, which rely on dry land and fresh water. Too much saltwater intrusion in the soil can weaken and eventually kill a cherry tree, according to the NPS.

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck

As the planet gets warmer, the need for electric cooling continues to grow. And according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), it's one of the main reasons global demand for energy spiked in 2024. The IEA found that air conditioning use, industrial production and the expansion of data centers resulted in the power sector, led by electricity, growing nearly twice as fast as the average rate over the past decade.

According to the report, over 80% of last year's global energy demand increase came from emerging and developing economies. However, after several years of declines, even advanced economies, like the United States, saw demand growth in 2024.

Electricity use is growing so rapidly that it has reversed recent trends in energy consumption in advanced economies worldwide, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement.

Global heat waves, the growing fleet of electric vehicles and the construction of new data centers were all cited as contributing factors to the spike in electricity demand last year.

Global sales of electric cars accounted for one-fifth of all car sales in 2024, an increase of more than 25% from the previous year. Meanwhile, demand for electricity from new data centers, mainly in the United States and China, accounted for about 20% of the rise in electricity demand.

While all available energy sources are helping meet the global demand for energy demand, a growing supply of low-emission sources was able to cover most of last year's increase. In 2024, 80% of the growth in global electricity generation was from renewable and nuclear sources, contributing to 40% of the world's total electricity generation for the first time. Solar and wind accounted for 16% of the United State's electricity, surpassing coal.

The report found that this significant shift to renewable energy sources has had a notable impact on limiting the annual rise in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. In 2024, carbon dioxide emissions in advanced economies dropped to their lowest level in 50 years. Additionally, the deployment of solar, wind, nuclear, electric cars and heat pumps since 2019 now prevents 2.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year.

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck