EU climate report: World experienced warmest January in history in 2024
Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The Earth experienced the warmest January on record in 2024 as surface air temperatures and sea surface temperatures combined to break a four-year heat record, according to new climate data from the European Union.
The average surface air temperature was 13.14 degrees Celsius, which is 0.70 degrees Celsius higher than the January average from 1991 to 2020, according to a monthly bulletin from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which tracks global weather for the EU.
Compared to the previous warmest January in 2020, temperatures were 0.12 degrees Celsius higher, resulting in significant but varied climate impacts worldwide.
The study suggested the planet is in a period of sustained warming as the global temperature anomaly for January 2024 was lower than those recorded in the last six months of 2023, but still higher than any anomaly observed before July 2023.
The global rise in temperature continued a trend of consistent warmth, with January being the eighth consecutive month to set a record for its respective month over time, the study said.
"2024 starts with another record-breaking month -- not only is it the warmest January on record but we have also just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial reference period," said Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess. "Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing."
Last month, data from the EU climate agency showed that 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history, beating the old record set in 2016.
The latest data tracked long-term trends, finding that the global mean temperature for the past 12 months, from February 2023 to January 2024, was the highest on record, exceeding both the recent average and the pre-industrial average by substantial margins.
Over the past year, temperatures varied globally, with warmer extremes across Europe and in regions such as eastern Canada, northwest Africa, the Middle East and central Asia, while below-average temperatures blanketed western Canada, the central United States and most of eastern Siberia, the report said.
An El Nino event inundating the Pacific coast has begun to weaken, the report said, but marine air temperatures in the region remained elevated.
Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice remained at average levels, and measured the highest for January since 2009, the report said, citing higher-than-average sea ice in the Greenland Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, but below-average concentrations in the Labrador Sea.
Antarctic sea ice was 18% below average, reflecting below-average sea ice concentrations in the Ross and Amundsen Seas, northern Weddell Sea, as well as the coast of East Antarctica.
In January 2024, Europe experienced wetter-than-average conditions, with storms hitting north and southwestern regions, but drier conditions were felt in many parts of Spain, the Maghreb, southern England, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia and the eastern Balkans.
Outside Europe, wetter-than-average weather prevailed in western and southeastern United States, South America, Africa and Australia.
Drier-than-average conditions contributed to wildfires in western and southern North America, Canada, the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, south central Asia, Australia, and Chile.
The latest climate report from the agency comes as nations race to curtail global warming to a target goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next decade as set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
