January 2024 was the hottest first month of the year ever.
Results of this ground-breaking record were released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), three days ago.
Using the ERA5 dataset and five other internationally – recognized datasets for its climate monitoring and state of the climate reports, WMO concluded the average monthly surface air temperature was 1.66°C warmer than an estimate of the January average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period.
This is according to the ERA5 dataset used by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which is implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission.
It was 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average for January and 0.12°C above the temperature of the previous warmest January, in 2020, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The final WMO State of the Global Climate 2023 report will be published for World Meteorological Day on 23 March 2024.
WMO has already confirmed that 2023 was by far the warmest year on record due to human-induced climate change and a warming El Niño.
The average global sea surface temperature for January over 60°S–60°N reached 20.97°C, a record for January, 0.26°C warmer than the previous warmest January (2016), and second highest value for any month in the ERA5 dataset, within 0.01°C of the record from August 2023 (20.98°C).
In South Africa
A heatwave persists in the Eastern Cape areas including Sarah Baartman, Joe Gqabi, Chris Hani District, Raymond Mhlaba, Amahlathi, Mhlonto, Matatiele, uMzimvubu and Ntabankulu Local Municipalities.
The South African Weather Service (SAWS), said extremely hot and uncomfortable conditions are expected in Namakwa in the Northern Cape.
Similar conditions are predicted for parts of the Western Cape, including Drakenstein Municipality, the Cape Winelands, Central and Little Karoo on Monday.
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