January sets record high temperature despite La Nina's cooling effects

January 2024 was reported as the warmest January on record by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, with surface-air temperatures 1.75C above pre-industrial levels. This heat was expected to subside after a warming El Nino event peaked in January 2024, but it has persisted at record or near-record levels. La Nina, a phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, typically eases warming, but its effects have been outweighed by the lingering heat. Scientists are exploring the possibility that Earth's surface chemistry may have undergone a change, in addition to the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, which are the primary driver of global warming and reached record levels in 2023 and 2024.