The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has published its latest monthly Climate Bulletin, focused on key climate trends in January 2025.

The bulletin reports that January 2025 was the warmest January on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 13.23°C, which is 0.79°C higher than the average for the month between 1991 and 2020.  Furthermore, January 2025 reached 1.75°C above the pre-industrial level. In the same period, the Arctic recorded its lowest sea ice extent on record.

In Europe, the average temperature over land in January 2025 was 1.80°C, 2.51°C above the 1991-2020 average for the month. for January.

Outside Europe, temperatures were notably above average over northeast and northwest Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. They were also above average over southern South America, Africa, and much of Australia and Antarctica.

C3S is implemented on behalf of the European Commission by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), whose scientists have been monitoring key climate indicators and documenting unprecedented daily, monthly, and annual temperature records over 2024.

Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at ECMWF said, “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.”

Read the full ECMWF press release here.