January 2022 was Earth's sixth-warmest January on record
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Apr 2022
January 2022 was recorded as Earth’s sixth-warmest January since global record-keeping began in 1880.
A 0.89 degree Celsius above the 20th-century average was reported by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the US (NOAA)’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
January 2022 was the warmest January on record to occur during a La Niña event. Global air temperature tends to cool slightly during La Niña and warm slightly during El Niño, on top of the longer-term warming caused by human-produced greenhouse gases.
South America had its second-warmest January on record; Asia, its fourth warmest; Oceania, its seventh warmest; and Europe, its 15th warmest. The contiguous US experienced near-average temperatures in January; the only state with a top-ten warmest or coldest January was California, which had its ninth-warmest January since records began in 1895.
La Niña conditions weakened during January but are expected to persist through the Northern Hemisphere spring (77% chance during March-May) and then transition to neutral conditions (56% chance during May-July) according to NOAA in its February 2022 monthly discussion of the state of the El Niño/Southern oscillation.
Arctic sea ice extent during January 2022 was the 16th lowest in the 44-year satellite record, and the greatest January extent since 2009, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. A