January 2025 Warmest January Globally, Says EU’s Copernicus. Why Scientists Found It ‘Surprising’

According to the C3S, January 2025 was 1.75°C above pre-industrial level, and 18th month in the last 19 months for which the global-average surface air temperature was more than that.

Representational image of a mother and child out and about in Meerut on a winter day last month.

Source : PTI

Climate Change: January 2025 was the warmest January globally, according to the European Union’s (EU)’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), with scientists describing it as surprising that the record was set despite the cooling effect from La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific. 

“January 2025 is another surprising month, continuing the record temperatures observed throughout the last two years, despite the development of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific and their temporary cooling effect on global temperatures. Copernicus will continue to closely monitor ocean temperatures and their influence on our evolving climate throughout 2025,” said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which implements C3S on behalf of the European Commission with funding from the EU. 

According to the C3S, January 2025 was 1.75°C above the pre-industrial level, and the 18th month in the last 19 months for which the global-average surface air temperature was more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.

“The last 12-month period (February 2024-January 2025) was 0.73°C above the 1991-2020 average, and 1.61°C above the estimated 1850-1900 average used to define the pre-industrial level,” it said in a press release.

The Paris Agreement aims to lower global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures to stave off its worst impacts. But the C3S has noted in its report that the Paris Agreement threshold of 1.5°C is about long-term multi-decadal warming, not short-term monthly temperatures.

Arctic Sea Ice & Antarctic Sea Ice

Another key finding of the C3S from January 2025 is that Arctic sea ice reached its lowest monthly extent for January, at 6% below average, virtually tied with January 2018.

“Antarctic sea ice extent was 5% below average and thus relatively close to average compared to other recent years. This contrasts with the record or near-record values observed in 2023–2024,” it added.

“In the Antarctic region, sea ice concentrations were above average in the Amundsen Sea and generally mixed in other ocean sectors.”

Copernicus is a component of the European Union’s space programme, and it is its flagship Earth observation programme, which operates through six thematic services: Atmosphere, Marine, Land, Climate Change, Security and Emergency. The programme is coordinated and managed by the European Commission and implemented in partnership with the Member States, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), EU Agencies and Mercator Océan, among others.

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by 35 states. It is both a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing and disseminating numerical weather predictions to its member states.