January 2024 was world’s warmest on record, says EU climate service

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) says January 2024 was the warmest January on record globally.

The report, which was released on Wednesday, said last month surpassed the previous warmest January, which occurred in 2020.

According to the EU’s climate service, January was 1.66°C warmer than an estimate of the January average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period.

C3S said this is the eighth consecutive warmest month on record for the respective months of the year.

The report added that the global mean temperature from February 2023 to January 2024 is the highest on record.

“January 2024 was the warmest January on record globally, with an average ERA5 surface air temperature of 13.14°C, 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average for January and 0.12°C above the temperature of the previous warmest January in 2020,” the report reads.

“The global temperature anomaly for January 2024 was lower than those of the last six months of 2023, but higher than any before July 2023.

“The global mean temperature for the past twelve months (Feb 2023 – Jan 2024) is the highest on record, at 0.64°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.52°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.

“European temperatures varied in January 2024 from much below the 1991-2020 average over the Nordic countries to much above average over the south of the continent.

“Outside Europe, temperatures were well above average over eastern Canada, north-western Africa, the Middle East and central Asia, and below average over western Canada, the central USA and most of eastern Siberia.”

Samantha Burgess, C3S deputy director, said rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions is the only way to stop global temperatures from increasing.

“Not only is it the warmest January on record but we have also just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5 C (1.7 F) above the pre-industrial reference period,” she added.

2023 had previously been named the hottest year in global temperature data records since 1850.