Brussels: Last month was the world’s warmest January on record, continuing a streak of extreme global temperatures despite expectations that cooler La Niña conditions might quell a streak of record-breaking global temperatures, European Union scientists said on Thursday.
According to Emirates News Agency, January extended a run of extraordinary heat, in which 18 of the last 19 months saw an average global temperature of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin. This persistent trend occurred despite the world transitioning from the El Niño warming pattern, which contributed to making 2024 the world’s warmest year on record, to its cooler La Niña counterpart. La Niña involves the cooling of equatorial Pacific waters and is known to potentially reduce global temperatures.
The global average temperature in January was recorded at 1.75 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial times. This substantial increase highligh
ts the ongoing challenges and impacts related to climate change worldwide.
Globally, average sea surface temperatures in January were the second-highest on record for the month, surpassed only by January 2024. This data underscores the broader implications of warming oceans on global weather patterns and ecosystems.