While January is typically considered the coldest month by Brits, globally last month was a scorcher.
Scientists at the the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) have revealed that January 2025 was the hottest January on record.
The global average air temperature was 55.81°F (13.23°C), which is 1.42°F (0.79°C) above the 1991-2020 average for January.
It’s also just above the previous January record-holder, January 2024, which had a global average air temp of 55.65°F (13.14°C).
Experts blame climate change for the unusually-hot start to 2025 globally, despite an emerging La Niña weather phenomenon.
La Niña – the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean – leads to variations in global weather.
‘January 2025 is another surprising month, continuing the record temperatures observed throughout the last two years,’ said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.
‘Copernicus will continue to closely monitor ocean temperatures and their influence on our evolving climate throughout 2025.’
January 2025 was the warmest January on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 55.81°F (13.23°C). This map shows where Earth suffered extremes in terms of heat last month, compared to the 1991-2020 reference period
Looking forward, 2025 could set a record for the hottest months the world has ever seen, similar to the run of records set in 2024.
Last December, November, October and September were all the second-hottest for that respective month, according to CS3, while August 2024 was the joint-warmest August globally, tied with August 2023.
Summer 2024 (June to August) was the hottest summer on record, while last year was the hottest year on record.
C3S looks at temperature readings from a variety of instruments, such as weather stations, balloons and satellites.
The department’s readings refer to the average air temperature for the whole planet over the whole month – so lower than a single typically ‘hot’ temperature reading.
According to CS3, which is based in Bonn in Germany, last month was 3.15°F (1.75°C) above the January average for 1850-1900.
This is the designated ‘pre-industrial’ reference period to which modern temperatures are compared, prior to widespread industrialization when humans started significantly impacting the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.
It was also the 18th month in the last nineteen months for which the global-average surface air temperature was more than 2.7°F (1.5°C) above the pre-industrial level.
January 2025 beats both the previous two Januarys in terms of global average air temperature – not to mention all Januarys on record
Looking forward, 2025 could set a record for the hottest months the world has ever seen. Pictured, Sao Paulo, Brazil, January 26, 2025
Experts blame climate change for an unusually-hot start to the year, despite an emerging La Niña weather pattern. Pictured, La Jolla Shores beach, San Diego, California, January 10, 2025
Looking at Europe specifically, the average temperature over European land for January 2025 was 35.24°F (1.8°C), according to CS3.
This makes last month the second warmest January in Europe only after January 2020, which was 4.75°F (2.64°C) above average.
Europe last month was also 4.51°F (2.51°C) above the 1991-2020 average for January.
European temperatures were notably above average over southern and eastern Europe, including western Russia, but were below average over Iceland, the UK and Ireland, northern France, and northern Scandinavia.
The Met Office has already said that the UK’s January average mean temperature was 3°C, which is 0.9°C lower than the current long-term average.
Meanwhile, conditions were wetter than average across regions of western Europe, as well as parts of Italy, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, leading to flooding in some regions, reveals CS3.
Conversely, drier than average conditions were recorded in northern UK and Ireland, eastern Spain, and north of the Black Sea.
Outside Europe, temperatures were notably above average over northeast and northwest Canada, Alaska, Siberia southern South America, Africa and much of Australia and Antarctica.
In January 2025, it was wetter than average in Pictured, Guaratiba beach amid a heat wave in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 19, 2025
Meanwhile, temperatures were below average in the US, the easternmost regions of Russia, the Arabian Peninsula and mainland Southeast Asia.
It was wetter than average in Alaska, Canada, central and eastern Russia, eastern Australia, south-eastern Africa, southern Brazil, with regions experiencing floods and associated damage.
Drier than average conditions established in southwestern US and northern Mexico, northern Africa, the Middle East, across Central Asia and in eastern China as well as in much of southern Africa, southern South America and Australia.
C3S also revealed that the the global average sea surface temperature (SST) was 69.4°F (20.78°C) last month.
This marks the second-highest SST value on record for January, 0.34°F (0.19°C) below the January 2024 record.
CS3 also warns that January 2025 saw Arctic sea ice reaching its lowest monthly extent for January – at six per cent below average – due to warmer temperatures.
Carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect: A primer
The greenhouse effect is the reason our planet is getting too hot to live on.
CO2 released by human activity is accumulating as an ‘insulating blanket’ around the Earth, trapping more of the sun’s heat in our atmosphere.
Without the natural greenhouse effect, heat would pass outwards from the Earth¿s surface into space – making it too cold to live. But emissions of gases such as CO2 and methane push the greenhouse effect too far – acting as a blanket that traps heat
CO2 – and other greenhouse gases – are emitted by actions such as burning fossil fuels like coal for energy, burning forests to make way for livestock and
Fertilisers containing nitrogen produce nitrous oxide emissions – another greenhouse gas.
Meanwhile, fluorinated gases are emitted from equipment and products that use these gases.
Such emissions have a very strong warming effect, up to 23,000 times greater than CO2.
Sources: European Commission/BGS/NASA
