If you’ve felt particularly chilly over the last few weeks, you’re not alone.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has confirmed that last month was the coldest January in Europe for 16 years.
In the final weeks of the month, the Northern Hemisphere experienced severe cold waves thanks to a ‘meandering polar jet stream’, which spilled icy air into Europe and North America.
This led to Europe experiencing its coldest January since 2010 – with average temperatures hitting just –2.34°C.
However, it was a very different story in the Southern Hemisphere.
There, record–breaking heat led to wildfires in Australia, Chile, and Patagonia, as well as flooding in South Africa and Mozambique.
‘January 2026 delivered a stark reminder that the climate system can sometimes simultaneously deliver very cold weather in one region, and extreme heat in another,’ said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at the European Centre for Medium–Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
‘While human activities continue to drive long–term warming, these recent events highlight that resilience and adaptation to increasing extremes are key to prepare society for heightened climate risk in the future.’
The Copernicus Climate ChangeService (C3S) has confirmed that last month was the coldest January in Europe for 16 years
Europe experienced its coldest January since 2010 – with average temperatures hitting just –2.34°C. Pictured: a skier skies past the Eiffel Tower on January 7
Worldwide, January was the fifth–warmest on record, with an average surface air temperature of 12.95°C.
That’s 0.51°C above the 1991–2020 average, and 1.47°C above pre–industrial temperatures.
Europe was particularly chilly, with an average temperature of just –2.34°C, which is 1.63°C below the 1991–2020 average.
‘Widespread cold conditions occurred across Fennoscandia, the Baltic States, eastern Europe, Siberia, and the central and eastern United States,’ CS3 explained.
In contrast, the largest warmer–than–average temperatures occurred across the Arctic, most notably in 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,’ CS3 added.
If you live in the UK, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that January was also wetter than average in much of western, southern, and eastern Europe.
CS3 said: ‘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.’
Worldwide, January was the fifth–warmest on record, with an average surface air temperature of 12.95°C
Outside of Europe, Canada, northern Mexico and southern USA, central Asia, easternmost Russia and Japan, southeastern Brazil, northern Australia and southern Africa all had wetter–than–average conditions.
However, drier–than–average conditions were seen in large parts of central Europe, as well as in northwestern coastal and southern USA, southern parts of China, much of extratropical South America and much of southern and western Australia.
As part of its analysis CS3 also looked at the extent of sea ice at the North and South Poles.
In the Arctic, the average sea ice extent last month was six per cent below average.
‘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,’ the experts said.
Over in the Antarctic, the monthly sea ice extent was eight per cent below average.
‘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,’ CS3 added.
