January 2020 was the hottest January ever recorded in the 141 years agencies have been tracking the weather, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday.
Last month also marked the 44th consecutive January and the 421st consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average, NOAA said.
Temperatures in January were 1.14 degrees Celsius above the 20th-century average.
Arctic sea ice coverage was 5.3 per cent below the 1981–2010 average, while Northern Hemisphere snow coverage was below average as well.
“No land or ocean areas had record-cold January temperatures,” NOAA said.
The report will likely add to growing alarm over the state of climate change.
