Globally, January was the warmest on record, but temperatures in Ireland were below normal, that’s according to the EU’s climate service, Copernicus.
“January 2025 was the warmest January globally, with an average…surface air temperature of 13.23°C, 0.79°C above the 1991-2020 average for January.”
It means that last month was again a record breaker, 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels, Copernicus says.
It was “the 18th month in the last 19 months for which the global-average surface air temperature was more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.”
That global pattern was closely matched by Europe which was 1.80°C above pre-industrial levels. Only January 2020 was hotter for Europe when it was 2.51°C above the 1991-2020 average.
By contrast, temperatures for Iceland, the UK and Ireland were below par.
Copernicus also noted that January was “wetter-than-average conditions over regions of western Europe, as well as parts of Italy, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries; heavy precipitation led to flooding in some regions.”
Climate scientists say that more frequent extreme weather conditions are the result of climate change. Ireland was hit by what was feared to be the worst ever storm last month.
The clear up operation after Storm Éowyn is still under way.