The global climate summary for January 2020 was released by NOAA this morning. It shows that this past January was the warmest ever for a January since global records began in 1880. This in spite of the fact that we are not in an El Niño, which usually brings us the warmest global temperatures. Very few areas of the earth were below the long-term average temperature, but one area was Alaska, which is experiencing extremely cold temperatures under the influence of the polar vortex, which is bottled up near the North Pole this winter. Alaska is one small part of the globe, however, and most regions, including the Southeast, were warmer than average. You can read a summary at https://www.noaa.gov/news/january-2020-was-earth-s-hottest-january-on-record or access the full report at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202001 .
