'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.

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."

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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.

(c) Sky News 2025: 'Dangerous climate breakdown' warning as hottest January on record shocks scientists