'January was second hottest on record'

The globally average temperature over land and ocean surfaces for January was the second highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880, US authorities said.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the January global land surface temperature was also second highest on record, while the global ocean surface temperature was third highest.
During January, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 0.77 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average.
"This was the second highest for January in the 1880-2015 record. The warmest January occurred in 2007, at 0.86 degrees Celsius above average," NOAA said.

During January, the globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.43 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average.
This was also the second highest for January in the 1880-2015 record. The warmest January occurred in 2007, at 1.84 degrees Celsius above average.

During January, the globally-averaged sea surface temperature was 0.53 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average. This was the third highest for January in the 1880-2015 record, NOAA said.
The average Arctic sea ice extent for January was 350,000 square miles (6.3 per cent) below the 1981-2010 average. This was the third smallest January extent since records began in 1979, according to analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Centre based on data from NOAA and NASA.

Antarctic sea ice during January was 890,000 square miles (44.6 per cent) above the 1981-2010 average. This was the largest January Antarctic sea ice extent on record, surpassing the previous record set in 2008 by 220,000 square miles.
According to data from NOAA analysed by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during January was 170,000 square miles below the 1981-2010.
This was the 22nd largest January Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in the 49-year period of record.