Warmest January on record on planet Earth

Last month the warmest 

January recorded on Earth, 

US agency says

stuff.co.nz,

14 February, 2020

Last month was the warmest January recorded on Earth, by a whisker, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says.

Record-warm temperatures were seen across parts of: Scandinavia, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the central and western Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and Central and South America.

Things weren't so unusual in New Zealand, with Niwa reporting earlier that the nationwide average temperature for the month - as measured through its seven station series - was 17.2 degrees Celsius. That was just 0.1C above the 1981-2010 January average.The Antarctic's highest ever temperature was recorded in January.

The New Zealand average temperature was held down by a cooler than usual first half of the month, as the wind came from the southerly quarter. Temperatures were well above average in the second half of the month.

Moscow in early February. According to the US NOAA, much of Russia had temperatures at least 5C above average in January.

According to NOAA, the January global land and ocean surface temperature was the highest on record at 1.14C above the 20th-century average. That was 0.02C higher than the previous record in January 2016. 

The four warmest January months on record all happened since 2016, with all of the 10 warmest since 2002, NOAA said. 

The Northern Hemisphere also had its warmest January on record, at 1.5C above average. The Southern Hemisphere was 0.78C above average - its second-warmest January on record after January 2016.

In February, some remarkable temperatures have been recorded from around the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, which stretches out from Antarctica, pointing north to South America.

Brazilian scientists recorded 20.75C at Seymour Island, the highest temperature ever recorded in the Antarctic. At Argentina's Esperanza Base the temperature reached 18.3C, which was a record for mainland Antarctica.

 

Punta del Este on Uruguay's Atlantic Coast in January. South America had its second warmest January on record last month.