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January 2025 sets surprise record as hottest ever start to a year

Meteorologists expected global temperatures to start falling after record highs in 2023 and 2024 – instead January 2025 hit a new high

By Madeleine Cuff

3 February 2025

Sunset in San Diego, California, during an exceptionally warm January

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

January has surprised climate scientists by setting a new global temperature record, in an early indication that 2025 could see more severe warming than first thought.

It was the hottest January on record at 1.75°C above the 1850 to 1900 average, beating the previous record set a year earlier, when temperatures were 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels.

It is a surprise start to a year when global temperatures were expected to start falling.…

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