Climate crisis
Global warming exceeds 1.5 degrees for the first twelve months
Global temperatures continue to rise. photo
© Emilio Morenatti/AP/dpa
The year 2023 was the warmest on record. And the year starts with new extremes.
Global temperatures in January 2024 were higher than at any time this month on record. This was announced by the European Union’s climate change service Copernicus. That’s it For the first time, global warming is now permanently above 1.5 degrees over a period of twelve months compared to the pre-industrial era. But that doesn’t mean that the Paris 1.5 degree target has been missed, as longer-term average values are being looked at.
Rapid reductions in greenhouse emissions are the only way to stop rising global temperatures, warned Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess. The mean January 2024 temperature was 1.66 degrees higher than the estimated average January temperature between 1850 and 1900, it said. Experts believe it is entirely possible that 2024 will be even warmer and that the entire year could break the 1.5 degree threshold for the first time.
According to Copernicus, last year was 1.48 degrees warmer than the global pre-industrial average, making it the warmest since records began in 1850. “It is likely that temperatures in 2023 were warmer than in the past 100,000 years,” Burgess said in early January explained. Europe experienced its second warmest year on record.
The El Niño weather phenomenon has now begun to weaken, but the air temperatures over the sea are still at an unusually high level, according to Copernicus’s current status. The recurring weather phenomenon heats up the Pacific every few years and can also increase global temperatures drive up.
Regional differences
There was a mixed picture in Europe in January: While it was significantly cooler in the Nordic countries than the average for the reference period, it was significantly warmer in the south of the continent. It was also warmer than average in eastern Canada, northwest Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, while it was colder than average in western Canada, the central United States and most of Siberia.
According to the data, the air temperature in January was 0.12 degrees higher than the temperature in January 2020, which was the warmest January recorded so far. The data used by Copernicus goes back to 1950, and some earlier data is also available. Experts assume that a record year like 2023 will probably be considered a comparatively cold year in a few years.
The European Union’s climate change service Copernicus regularly publishes data on surface temperatures, sea ice cover and precipitation. The findings are based on computer-generated analyzes that incorporate billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.