Hottest January on record

Climate scientist calls figures astonishing and terrifying’

- BRYONY GOOCH

Scientists have warned that “dangerous climate breakdown” has arrived after the warmest January ever was recorded globally, defying expectations that 2025 might be cooler than previous years.

The average temperature last month stood at 13.23C, which is 0.79C above the 1991 to 2020 average for January and 1.75C above the pre-industrial level, according to European space agency Copernicus. January 2025 is the 18th month in the last 19 months that saw the global average surface air temperature more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial level.

The statistics come against a backdrop of new US president Donald Trump vowing to end previous leader Joe Biden’s policies of “climate extremism”. This is despite 2024 being registered as the world’s hottest on record, crossing the 1.5C threshold initially agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Emeritus professor of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL, Bill McGuire, called the data “astonishing and, frankly, terrifying”.

He continued: “On the basis of the Valencia floods and apocalyptic LA wildfires, I don’t think there can be any doubt that dangerous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown has arrived. Yet emissions continue to rise, while fossil fuel corporations seek to expand operations. Grim doesn’t even begin to describe our prospects.”

Scientists expected the emergence of La Nina – a climate pattern of cooling conditions in the tropical Pacific – would slow down record-breaking global warming after the recent El Nino phenomenon led to the warming of surface waters.

Climate scientist Professor Chris Brierley told