Between February 2023 and January 2024, the global surface air temperature was 1.52°C higher than the 1850-1900 period, according to data from the European Copernicus Observer, as reported by AFP.

This does not mean that we have exceeded the 1.5°C threshold set in Paris in 2015 to try to halt global warming and its consequences", emphasizes Richard Betts, Director of Climate Impacts Studies at the UK's National Met Office.

For this to occur, the threshold must be consistently surpassed over multiple decades.

Nevertheless, this is still a reminder of the profound changes we have already made to the global climate and to which we must now adapt", he added.

"This is a harsh warning about the urgency of taking measures to limit climate change", said Brian Hoskins, Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London.

Johan Rockstrom, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), told AFP: "This is a very important and disastrous signal (...), a warning to humanity that we are approaching the 1.5-degree limit faster than expected".

The present climate has experienced an increase of approximately 1.2°C compared to the period between 1850 and 1900. With the current rate of emissions, the IPCC predicts a 50% likelihood of reaching the 1.5°C threshold on average by 2030-2035.

With an average temperature of 13.14°C, January 2024 is the warmest January recorded since measurements began, after a record year in 2023.

It surpasses the previous record set in January 2020 by 0.12°C and is 0.70°C higher than the average for the period 1991-2020. In comparison to the pre-industrial era, it registers a warming of 1.66°C.

January is the eighth consecutive month in which the monthly heat record has been surpassed, according to Copernicus.

The month was marked by a heatwave in South America, leading to record temperatures and destructive fires in Colombia and Chile, resulting in numerous casualties in the Valparaiso region.

Despite some cold periods and occasional heavy rains in some parts of the globe, exceptionally mild weather was recorded in Spain and southern France, as well as in some parts of the United States, Canada, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

The surface of the oceans is also overheating, with a new record average temperature of 20.97°C in January.

This measurement ranks as the second-highest among all aggregated months, trailing by less than 0.01°C behind the previous record established in August 2023 (20.98°C).

The elevated temperatures persisted beyond January 31, setting new absolute records and surpassing the peak values recorded on August 23 and 24, 2023, as highlighted by Copernicus. All of this occurred during a period when the El Niño climate phenomenon is decelerating in the equatorial Pacific, which typically contributes to a reduction in temperatures.

The year 2024 "starts with another record-breaking month", laments Samantha Burgess, Deputy Head of Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). "A rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is the only way to stop rising global temperatures".

In mid-January, the World Meteorological Organization and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned that 2024 could break the record for the warmest year ever recorded.

As per NOAA, there is a one in three chance that 2024 will surpass 2023 in terms of warmth, and a 99% likelihood that it will rank among the top five warmest years in history.

However, says Rockstrom, there is also a chance that, at the end of this "third super El Niño event", strengthened by human activity, temperatures could "drop again, as they did in 2016 and 1998".