If you found the start of the year rather mild, the data proves you right. After a year of historic heat across the planet, the trend continues: January 2024 is the hottest January on record, according to data from the European climate observatory Copernicus. Quebec is one of the regions where the heat was felt the most.
Earth recorded an average temperature of 13.14°C in January 2024, 0.7°C warmer than the average temperature from 1991 to 2020, according to Copernicus. This is 0.12°C warmer than the last record set for this month, which dates from 2020.
Compared to the pre-industrial era, this is a difference of 1.66°C, above the limit of 1.5°C established in the Paris Agreement, negotiated in 2015. With this new record, the planet has therefore just spent the last twelve months (from February 2023 to January 2024) with an average anomaly of 1.52°C, i.e. beyond this symbolic limit. As a reminder, in 2023, the global temperature was on average 1.48°C above pre-industrial norms.
Extreme temperatures in Canada
Copernicus notes, however, that certain regions of the world recorded much larger anomalies, notably eastern Canada. Indeed, the region surrounding Hudson Bay, particularly northern Quebec, saw its temperatures rise to nearly 7°C above the norms for the period 1981-2010. In Montreal, last month, the temperature was around 4°C above normal for the same reference period.
Conversely, in the west of the country, the Prairie provinces recorded a much colder than normal January. However, Copernicus points out that this region has also seen enormous temperature variations. After a record cold start to the month, a wave of higher than normal temperatures followed.
Oceans warmer than ever
Even though the El Niño phenomenon is weakening in certain areas of the Pacific, sea surface temperatures remain abnormally high.
In January, the average ocean surface temperature was 20.97°C. This is the second highest value ever recorded, only 0.01°C below the previous record, set in August 2023.
In terms of daily temperatures, however, the oceans broke their previous record in early February. 1er February, the average temperature reached 21.05°C, surpassing the highest value ever recorded on August 24, 2023, which was 21.02°C.
Water temperature is an important factor in global climate. Such increases, which were already noted in 2023, can cause extreme climatic phenomena such as heatwaves, forest fires, floods, or even droughts.