The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) is warning that global warming exceeded 1.5C for a full year.

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.

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.

Commenting on the data, Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) 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°C above the pre-industrial reference period. Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing.”

All the reported findings are based on computer-generated analyses and according to ERA5 reanalysis dataset, using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.

Other key findings for January 2024 include:

• This is the eighth month in a row that is the warmest on record for the respective month of the year.
• 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.
• 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.
• The average global sea surface temperature (SST) for January over 60°S–60°N reached 20.97°C, a record for January, 0.26°C warmer than the previous warmest January, in 2016, and second highest value for any month in the ERA5 dataset, within 0.01°C of the record from August 2023 (20.98°C).
• Since 31 January, the daily SST for 60°S–60°N has reached new absolute records, surpassing the previous highest values from 23rd and 24th of August 2023.
• Arctic sea ice extent was close to average, and the highest for January since 2009.
• Antarctic sea ice extent was the sixth lowest for January, at 18% below average, well above the lowest January value recorded in 2023 (-31%).
• Below-average sea ice concentrations prevailed mainly in the Ross and Amundsen Seas, northern Weddell Sea, and along the coast of East Antarctica.
• In January 2024, it was wetter than average in large parts of Europe, with storms impacting north- and south-western Europe
• Drier-than-average conditions were seen in south-eastern and northern Spain and the Maghreb, southern UK, Ireland, eastern Iceland, most of Scandinavia, part of north-western Russia, and the eastern Balkans.

C3S, which is headquartered in the UK and implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission with funding from the EU, routinely publishes monthly climate bulletins reporting on the changes observed in global surface air and sea temperatures, sea ice cover and hydrological variables.

 ECMWF operates two services from the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme: the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).