Bonn, 09/02/2026

In the final weeks of January, the Northern Hemisphere experienced severe cold waves as a meandering polar jet stream spilled icy air into Europe and North America (as shown in the visual above). This contributed to Europe experiencing its coldest January since 2010, with an average temperature of -2.34°C. Despite these cold episodes, monthly temperatures in January were above average over much of the globe, including in large parts of the Arctic and western North America (as shown in the globe map visual below). Further highlights on the cold outbreaks can be foundhere.

In the Southern Hemisphere, record breaking heat provided fuel for extreme conditions, including wildfires that turned dramatic in the second half of January. Ashighlighted by The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), this included intense blazes claiming lives across Australia, Chile and Patagonia. Heavy rains in Southern Africa in the final week of the month led to severe flooding, particularly in Mozambique, with a catastrophic impact on lives and livelihoods.

Global temperature

  • January 2026 was the fifth-warmest January globally, with an average surface air temperature of 12.95°C, 0.51°C above the 1991-2020 average for January, according to the ERA5 dataset.
  • January 2026 was 0.28°C cooler than the warmest January on record in 2025.
  • January 2026 was 1.47°C above the estimated 1850-1900 average used to define the pre-industrial level, according to the ERA5 dataset.

Europe and other regions

  • During the second half of January 2026, severecold conditions affected large parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including North America,Europeand Siberia, mainly drivenby awavier-than-usual polar jet stream that allowed frigid Arctic air to spill into mid-latitudes.
  • The average temperature over European land for January 2026 was -2.34°C, 1.63°C below the 1991-2020 average for January, making it the coldest January since 2010.
  • Widespread cold conditions occurred across Fennoscandia, the Baltic States, eastern Europe, Siberia, and the central and eastern United States.
  • The largest warmer-than-average temperatures occurred across the Arctic, most notable  in most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Baffin Bay, Greenland, and the Russian Far East. Above-average temperatures were also recorded across southern South America, northern Africa, central Asia, and most of Australia and Antarctica.

Sea surface temperature

  • The average sea surface temperature (SST) for January 2026 over 60°S–60°N was 20.68°C, the fourth-highest value on record for the month, 0.29°C below the January 2024 record.

  • A large region of the subtropical and the northeast North Atlantic, including the Norwegian Sea, had the warmest SSTs on record for the time of year.

  • Most of the North Pacific continued to experience much above-average SSTs. In contrast, SSTs were close to or below the 1991-2020 average in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, reflecting weak La Niña conditions.

  • The most below-average SSTs were recorded in the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the central South Pacific Ocean, and in the Tasman Sea.

  • In the Arctic, the average sea ice extent in January was 6% below average, the third lowest on record for the month.

  • Regionally, sea ice concentrations were much below average in the northern Barents Sea, between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, as well as in Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea, coinciding with much-above-average surface air temperatures in those regions.

  • In the Antarctic, the monthly sea ice extent was 8% below average, outside of the 10 lowest extents for the month.

  • Sea ice concentrations around Antarctica were above average in the Weddell Sea, but generally below average in other ocean sectors, particularly in the Bellingshausen Sea.

  • In January 2026, it was wetter than average in much of western, southern and eastern Europe. Heavy precipitation led to flooding and associated damage and disruption in many regions, including the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, the western Balkans, Ireland and the UK.

  • Drier-than-average conditions were seen in a large region of central Europe, stretching north-eastward across the Baltic States to Finland and part of western Russia, Scandinavia and Iceland.

  • Outside Europe, wetter-than-average regions include western Canada, northern Mexico and southern USA, central Asia, easternmost Russia and Japan, southeastern Brazil, northern Australia and southern Africa. In many regions, heavy rainfall led to floods or disruptions.

  • Drier-than-average conditions were seen in the northwestern coastal and southern USA, southern parts of China, much of extratropical South America and much of southern and western Australia. In Chile, Argentina and Australia, the hot and dry conditions were conducive to wildfires

  • Answers to frequently asked questions regarding temperature monitoring can be foundhere.

  • Follow near-real-time data for the globe on Climate Pulsehere.

  • More on trends and projections on Climate Atlashere.

  • Access key datasets easily with the new tool ERA Explorer Apphere.

Temperature and hydrological maps and data are from ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service’s ERA5 and ERA5-Land (surface soil moisture) datasets.

The findings about global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) presented here are based on SST data from ERA5 averaged over the 60°S–60°N domain. Note that ERA5 SSTs are estimates of the ocean temperature at about 10m depth (known as foundation temperature). The results may differ from other SST products providing temperature estimates at different depths.

Sea ice maps and data are from a combination of information from ERA5, as well as from the EUMETSAT OSI SAF Sea Ice Index v2.3.

Regional area averages quoted here are the following longitude/latitude bounds:

Globe, 180W-180E, 90S-90N, over land and ocean surfaces.

Europe, 25W-40E, 34N-72N, over land surfaces only.

More information about the data can be foundhere.

Information on national records and impacts is based on national and regional reports. For details see the respective temperature and hydrologicalC3S climate bulletinfor the month.

C3S has followed the recommendation of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to use the most recent 30-year period for calculating climatological averages and changed to the reference period of 1991-2020 for its C3S Climate Bulletins covering January 2021 onward.

More information on the reference period used can be foundhere.

More information on Copernicus:www.copernicus.eu

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Surface air temperature for January 2026

Hydrological variables for January 2026

Sea ice cover for January 2026