Record-Breaking January Temperatures: The World’s Warmest Month Ever

The world has just experienced its hottest year on record, and the trend has continued into the new year. According to the European Union’s climate change monitoring service Copernicus, January 2024 set a new heat record as the warmest month ever observed, surpassing the previous record set in 2020. The global average air temperature for January 2024 was 13.14 degrees Celsius, or 55.65 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.70 degrees Celsius above the 1991 to 2020 average for the month and 0.12 degrees Celsius above the last warmest January. This temperature was also 1.66 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service announced the findings in a news release, stating, “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°C above the pre-industrial reference period.”

The news of the record-breaking temperatures comes just weeks after Copernicus confirmed that 2023 had shattered global heat records. These extreme temperatures were linked to deadly heat, droughts, and wildfires that devastated countries around the world. The rise in global temperatures is fueling the extreme weather, helping feed storms that spawn hurricanes and bring massive precipitation events that flood developed areas.

Bob Watson, a former chair of the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change, told CBS News partner network BBC News, “This far exceeds anything that is acceptable. Look what’s happened this year with only 1.5 degrees Celsius: We’ve seen floods, we’ve seen droughts, we’ve seen heatwaves and wildfires all over the world, and we’re starting to see less agricultural productivity and some problems with water quality and quantity.”

A landmark U.N. report published in 2018 stated that the risks of extreme consequences of climate change would be much higher if global warming exceeded the 1.5-degree threshold. Most of the warming stems from the build-up of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, largely emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil.

While the news is a dire warning about the state of the planet, scientists said it would take multiple years of surpassing the 1.5-degree mark for the world to officially be considered in the new era of climate change associated with the threshold. World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas stated last year, “This report does not mean that we will permanently exceed the 1.5C level specified in the Paris Agreement, which refers to long-term warming over many years. However, WMO is sounding the alarm that we will breach the 1.5C level on a temporary basis with increasing frequency.”

In December, climate negotiators from around the world agreed at COP28 that countries must transition away from fossil fuels. The deal aims to usher in that transition in a manner that achieves net zero greenhouse gas emissions over the next 26 years, in part by calling for the expanded use of renewable energy. However, the plan includes significant loopholes that allow the United States and other fossil fuel-producing countries to continue expanding their use of fossil fuels.

Upon the news that January had marked yet another heat record, Burgess, with the EU’s Copernicus service, reiterated the call for limiting the use of fossil fuels, stating, “Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing.”

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Li Cohen

Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.

First published on February 8, 2024 / 7:05 AM EST

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