In the battle to slow global warming, January was the hottest month on record according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) last week.
Large portions of North America, Asia and Australia were wetter than average while much of southern Africa and South America were drier than normal.
The record-breaking trend seen for much of 2023 has rolled into 2024. For the eighth month in a row, new heat records have been set.
At the same time, sea surface temperatures have been at a record high now for 10 consecutive months.
The UN climate change body, which hosts the annual COP conference, UNFCC, tweeted that based on Thursday’s figures, “the urgency for climate action has never been clearer.”
“It is time to act,” declared UNFCCC, and for countries to put their climate plans into motion which align with keeping global warming below the 1.5°C limit outlined in the Paris Agreement nearly a decade ago.
This new data comes from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Japan Meteorological Agency.
They are four of the six international datasets feeding into WMO’s State of the Climate reports.
That report is due out next month. But, so far, the agency has already confirmed that 2023 was by far the warmest year on record due to human-induced climate change and a warming El Niño weather pattern.
Last year officially smashed the global temperature record, the UN weather agency said and warned that 2024 could even be hotter.
The World Meteorological Organization uses six leading international datasets from across the globe to monitor global temperatures, which reveal a new annual temperature average of 1.45°C set against the pre-industrial era (1850-1900).
Every month between June and December set new records. July and August were the two hottest months ever recorded,the WMO said.
The 1.5°C figure is the temperature limit set out clearly in the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change but that refers to the long-term temperature increase averaged over decades, rather than an individual year like 2023.
“Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity faces. It is affecting all of us, especially the most vulnerable,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, presenting the report’s findings. “We cannot afford to wait any longer. We are already taking action, but we have to do more, and we have to do it quickly.”
Saulo said drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerated transition to renewable energy sources are needed.
Looking ahead, the head of WMO warned that as the cooling La Niña phenomenon was replaced with a warming El Niño midway through last year―which usually has the biggest impact on global temperatures after it peaks―2024 could be even hotter.
Saulo, who became WMO Secretary-General on January 1, said “while El Niño events are naturally occurring and come and go from one year to the next, longer term climate change is escalating and this is unequivocally because of human activities.”