Hottest January on record as 1.5C limit breached for 12 months straight
The past month was the hottest January on record, according to Europe’s climate monitor, which also said the world had experienced 12 straight months of temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times for the first time.
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Last month surpassed the previous warmest January, in 2020, said the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), marking the eighth month in a row of historic high monthly temperatures.
"Not only is it the warmest January on record but we have also just experienced a 12-month period of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial reference period," said C3S Deputy Director Samantha Burgess.
The warming is caused by carbon emissions, supercharged by the El Nino phenomenon, which warms the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Emissions reductions
"Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing," Burgess said.
Despite exceeding 1.5C in a 12-month period, the world has not yet breached the 2015 Paris Agreement target, which is measured over decades, not months.
The UN's IPCC climate panel has warned that the world will likely heat beyond 1.5C in the early 2030s as planet-heating emissions from the burning of fossil fuels have continued to rise.
Variations
Copernicus reported January temperatures were well above average in southern Europe as well as western Africa, the Middle East central Asia and eastern Canada.
But they were below average in parts of northern Europe, western Canada and the central region of the United States.
And while parts of the world experienced an unusually wet January, parts the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and of North America saw drier conditions.
(with newswires)
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