January wasn't supposed to be a record-setter.
Last month was expected to continue a fall out of record high global heating conditions that began last September. But that's not how things turned out.
According to the first of several analyses coming in the next couple of weeks, last month was the warmest January on record.
The first three weeks of the year saw particularly high global temperatures, according to climate scientist Zeke Hausfather, writing in his newsletter The Climate Brink. Then, with a few days left in the month, temperatures finally fell out of record territory. But by then the die was cast.
January 2025 finished considerably warmer overall than January 2024, the previous record-holder. Back then, global temperatures seemed shockingly warm. But at least we could place some of the blame on El Niño, a climate phenomenon that tends to warm things up. Its influence also was in place ...
