The warming of the planet continues at an uncontrolled pace at the beginning of the year. Last month was the warmest January on record globally, with surface air temperatures averaging 13.14°C, 0.70°C above the January average in the period 1991-2020. It is a record record in absolute terms: 0.12°C was measured above the temperature of the warmest January recorded so far, which was 2020. This is indicated by the EU's Copernicus climate monitoring program.
The month of January has followed the same trend as the last seven months of 2023, a year marked by high temperatures caused by El Niño, a warming phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific with an impact on much of the planet.
In this way, it has been the eighth consecutive warmest month recorded for the respective month of the year.
El Niño began to weaken in the equatorial Pacific, although marine air temperatures generally remained at an unusually high level.
As a whole, January was 1.66°C warmer than the estimated average for the months of January from 1850 to 1900, the pre-industrial reference period.
The global average temperature for the last twelve months (February 2023 to January 2024) was 1.52 °C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900.
“The year 2024 begins with another record month: not only is it the warmest January on record, but we have also just experienced a 12-month period with a temperature increase of more than 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial times. The only way to stop the rise in global temperatures is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” says Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The global average sea surface temperature in the central latitudes of the planet (between coordinates 60°S-60°N) reached 20.97°C, a record for this month.
In addition, since January 31, the daily sea surface temperature at coordinates 60°S-60°N has reached new absolute records and has surpassed the previous maximum values of August 23 and 24, 2023.
Arctic sea ice extent was close to average and was the largest for a January month since 2009. In contrast, Antarctic sea ice extent was the sixth lowest for January, down 18%. below the average (although above the lowest value for the month of January, recorded in 2023 (with a decrease of -31%).
January 2024 was wetter than average across much of Europe, with storms affecting the north and southwest of the continent
Drier than normal conditions were recorded in the south-east and north of Spain and the Maghreb, the south of the United Kingdom, Ireland, eastern Iceland, most of Scandinavia, part of north-west Russia and the eastern Balkans. .
Outside Europe, the month was wetter than average in several regions, including the western and southeastern US, a broad region of Eurasia, southeastern South America, southeastern Africa, and northern and eastern Australia.
Elsewhere, drier than normal conditions were observed in parts of western and southern North America, Canada, the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and southern Central Asia. In Australia and Chile, drought contributed to forest fires
