January 2024 was the warmest January ever recorded globally, with the global average surface air temperature about 1.66 °C above the 1850–1900 pre‑industrial baseline and clearly exceeding the previous January record set in 2020. Individual locations also saw remarkable spikes, such as nearly 20 °C recorded in northwest Scotland late in the month, but global monitoring agencies focus on the global mean rather than a single “highest spot” temperature.

Global heat records

  • The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported a global average surface air temperature of about 13.14 °C for January 2024, which is 0.70 °C above the 1991–2020 January average and 0.12 °C warmer than the previous warmest January in 2020.
  • Over the 12‑month period from February 2023 to January 2024, the global mean temperature reached about 1.52 °C above the pre‑industrial reference, the highest such 12‑month value on record.

Oceans and sea surface extremes

  • January 2024 also set a record for average global sea surface temperature (between 60°S and 60°N), reaching about 20.97 °C, slightly above the previous January record in 2016 and just 0.01 °C below the all‑time monthly record from August 2023.
  • These unusually warm oceans contributed strongly to the global heat, with El Niño weakening but overall marine air temperatures remaining extremely high.

Local “highest temperature” highlights

  • In the UK, an exceptionally warm day on 28 January 2024 saw a manually measured maximum of 19.9 °C at Achfary in northwest Scotland, close to record territory for January there and widely noted by meteorologists.
  • Around the world, multiple regions reported broken or near‑record January highs, but because different countries maintain different reporting standards, global agencies emphasize the record‑breaking global average instead of declaring a single absolute top station reading.

Why this made headlines

  • January 2024 continued a run of at least eight consecutive months that were the warmest on record for their respective calendar month, underscoring an ongoing warming trend driven largely by greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Climate scientists warn that this string of records, especially combined with record‑high ocean temperatures, is consistent with long‑term projections of human‑driven climate change and points toward a very high likelihood that 2024 will rank among the hottest years ever observed.

TL;DR: January 2024 did not just have isolated hot days; it was the hottest January globally since records began, with unprecedented global land–ocean and sea‑surface temperatures that fit a clear warming trend.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.