GENEVA, February 15. /TASS/. January 2024 became the warmest in the history of weather and climate observations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
"The record-breaking trend seen for much of 2023 has continued in 2024, with January being the hottest January on record," the specialized UN agency said. "It is the eighth month in a row that is the warmest on record for the respective time of the year. Sea surface temperatures have been record high for ten consecutive months," WMO noted.
The Organization referred to data received from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Japan Meteorological Agency.
"The average monthly surface air temperature was 1.66°C warmer than an estimate of the January average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period," WMO noted. "It was 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average for January and 0.12°C above the temperature of the previous warmest January, in 2020, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service," the Organization added.