'Dangerous climate breakdown' warning as hottest January on record shocks scientists
Last month was the warmest January on record, according to new data.
The finding has baffled scientists, who had expected changes in ocean currents in the Pacific to take the edge off rising global temperatures.
Figures released by the European Copernicus climate service show average temperatures around the world in January were 1.75C warmer than before greenhouse gas emissions started to rise significantly in the industrial revolution around 150 years ago.
That's 0.1C above the record set last January. And it comes after a year in which temperatures topped 1.5C, the target for climate negotiations, for the first time.
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Dr Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, warned that the rising pace of climate change would increase the risk of extreme weather and its consequences.
"This January is the hottest on record because countries are still burning huge amounts of oil, gas and coal," she said.
"The Los Angeles wildfires were a stark reminder that we have already reached an incredibly dangerous level of warming. We'll see many more unprecedented extreme weather events in 2025."
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January had been expected to be slightly cooler than last year because of a natural shift in weather patterns and ocean currents in the Pacific, called La Nina.
But that hasn't been enough to slow the upward trend in temperatures.
'Frankly terrifying'
Bill McGuire, emeritus professor of geophysical & climate hazards at UCL, said: "The fact that the latest robust Copernicus data reveals the January just gone was the hottest on record - despite an emerging La Nina, which typically has a cooling effect - is both astonishing and, frankly terrifying.
"Having crashed through the 1.5C limit in 2024, the climate is showing no signs of wanting to dip under it again, reflected by the fact that this is the 18th of the last 19 months to see the global temperature rise since pre-industrial times top 1.5C.
"On the basis of the Valencia floods and apocalyptic LA wildfires, I don't think there can be any doubt that dangerous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown has arrived."
The consequences of a warming atmosphere are also being directly felt in the UK, with more intense rainfall increasing the risk of surface flooding.
The Environment Agency released figures in December showing 4.6 million properties in England are at risk from flooding as drainage systems are overwhelmed by rainfall. That's a 43% increase on previous estimates.
But adapting to a climate change is hugely expensive.
The government on Wednesday announced it would spend £2.65bn over two years to shore up existing flood defences and protect an extra 52,000 homes and businesses - a tiny fraction of the number at risk.
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2 days ago
- BBC News
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3 days ago
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4 days ago
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Scientists are BAFFLED after discovering a giant planet orbiting a tiny star
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They often do this by using a telescope similar to Nasa's Hubble Telescope. These enormous satellites scan the sky and lock on to exoplanets that Nasa think may be of interest. Here, the sensors on board perform different forms of analysis. One of the most important and useful is called absorption spectroscopy. This form of analysis measures the light that is coming out of a planet's atmosphere. Every gas absorbs a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens a black line appears on a complete spectrum. These lines correspond to a very specific molecule, which indicates it's presence on the planet. They are often called Fraunhofer lines after the German astronomer and physicist that first discovered them in 1814. By combining all the different wavelengths of lights, scientists can determine all the chemicals that make up the atmosphere of a planet. The key is that what is missing, provides the clues to find out what is present. It is vitally important that this is done by space telescopes, as the atmosphere of Earth would then interfere. Absorption from chemicals in our atmosphere would skew the sample, which is why it is important to study the light before it has had chance to reach Earth. This is often used to look for helium, sodium and even oxygen in alien atmospheres.
