Global January Temperature Hottest On Record, Despite Impending La Nina; 1.75C Above Preindustrial Baseline

A run of record-breaking global temperatures has continued, even with a La Niña weather pattern cooling the tropical Pacific. The Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month was the warmest January on record, with surface – air temperatures 1.75C above preindustrial levels. The EU-funded Earth observation programme highlighted wetter-than-average conditions in eastern Australia and drier-than-average conditions in other parts of the country.

Samantha Burgess, the strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said: “January 2025 is another surprising month, continuing the record temperatures observed throughout the last two years … Copernicus will continue to closely monitor ocean temperatures and their influence on our evolving climate throughout 2025.” Sea-surface temperatures remained unusually high in many ocean basins and seas.

January marked the 18th month of the past 19 to record global-average surface temperatures above the 1.5C preindustrial level. Under the Paris climate agreement, world leaders said they would try to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 1.5C – but the threshold was based on long-term multidecadal warming and not short-term monthly temperatures.

Climate scientists had expected this exceptional spell to subside after a warming El Niño event peaked in January 2024 and conditions shifted to an opposing, cooling La Niña phase. But the heat has lingered at record or near-record levels, prompting debate about what other factors could be driving it to the top end of expectations.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/06/hottest-january-on-record-climate-scientists-global-temperatures-high