Last month marked the warmest January globally on record, prompting concerns regarding the rate of climate change, report scientists.
January 2025 had been anticipated to be slightly cooler than January 2024 due to a shift away from the El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific. Nevertheless, last month exceeded the January 2024 record by nearly 0.1C, as stated by the European Copernicus climate service.
The rise in global temperatures is attributed to human activities emitting planet-heating gases, particularly from the combustion of fossil fuels. Scientists are unable to fully explain why last month was exceptionally hot.
Gavin Schmidt, the director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, highlighted, The basic reason we're having records being broken is because we're increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
January 2025 concluded 1.75C warmer than January temperatures in the late 19th Century before significant human-induced climate warming.
This year, La Niña conditions are developing, which typically have a cooling effect. However, experts are perplexed by the unexpected warmth of January 2025.
Various theories have been proposed to explain the recent trend of warmer temperatures, including the impact of the 2023-24 El Niño event and decreasing aerosol particles in the atmosphere.
Most researchers still forecast that 2025 will be slightly cooler than 2023 and 2024, yet the unpredicted warmth in recent years casts doubt on this projection.
Regardless, unless significant action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures will continue to escalate.