Americans experienced unusually cold and wintery weather in January. Places like southern Louisiana and Florida saw appreciable amounts of snow. For those who experienced January’s Arctic blast, it was a cold January. But despite that, January was the world’s warmest on record, extending a run of extraordinary heat in which 18 out of the last 19 months saw an average global temperature more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. In fact, the global average temperature in January was 1.75 degrees above the pre-industrial average.
The exceptional warmth was surprising to climate researchers. It happened despite the emergence of La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which tend to lower global temperatures, at least for a while.
Researchers are investigating whether there is something beyond the effects of greenhouse gas emissions that is boosting temperatures to an unexpected degree. It is true that emissions, associated with the burning of coal, gas, and oil, reached record levels in both 2023 and 2024. But January’s warmth was still something of a surprise.
One prevalent theory is that cutting dangerous pollution is playing a role in causing global warming to accelerate. As regulators have curbed sulfate pollution to protect people’s lungs, the cooling effect of these particles that help form more and brighter clouds has diminished.
January demonstrates that the global climate system is complex and the weather in any particular region does not necessarily reflect what is happening to the planet as a whole.
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Global Temperatures Shattered Records in January
Photo, posted December 22, 2013, courtesy of SD Anderson via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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