(CN) — Last month was the hottest January ever measured globally, extending the monthslong trend that made last year the warmest year ever recorded, according to the European Union's climate monitoring agency.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service said January was 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.26 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer globally than the average January between 1991 and 2020. The month was 1.66 C (2.98 F) warmer than the pre-industrial era. And it was 0.12 C (0.21 F) warmer than January 2020 — the previous January record — and the eighth month in a row that saw record-breaking temperatures, the agency said.
Copernicus said the planet for the first time recorded a 12-month period warmer than 1.5 C (2.7) compared to 1850-1900, a period scientists use to calculate what average temperatures were like before the advent of industrialization and massive fossil fuel burning.
Breaching the 1.5 C mark is significant because governments pledged to keep global warming from exceeding that mark when they signed the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Scientists warn the planet faces irreversible damage if global temperatures surpass that threshold for long periods of 20 or 30 years. Many scientists doubt it will be possible to keep the planet under 1.5 C due to the sheer amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere and still getting pumped into it.
“Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing,” said Samantha Burgess, the deputy director at Copernicus.
“Exceeding 1.5 C in one year underlines the rapidly shrinking window of time humanity has to make deep emissions cuts and avoid dangerous climate change,” said Matt Patterson, a climate researcher at the University of Oxford.
Scientists have warned this year promises to be as warm or warmer than 2023.
In January, the EU agency said, temperatures well above average over eastern Canada, north-western Africa, the Middle East and central Asia. However, it was colder than average in western Canada, central parts of the United States and most of eastern Siberia.
In Europe, temperatures were much colder than average in Nordic countries but much warmer in southern regions.
South America, meanwhile, has been sweltering through a heat wave that has led to devastating wildfires. In Chile, wildfires have killed more than 130 people with hundreds missing.
This long stretch of global heat is attributed to climate change and a strong El Niño pattern. El Niños are associated with warmer temperatures and more unpredictable and violent weather.
Copernicus said the El Niño that emerged early last year has begun to weaken.
The agency gathers its data from a fleet of satellites and weather stations around the world.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
-
Feds move to end coal leasing in Powder River Basin May 16, 2024