India, Feb. 5 -- The high levels of global warming seen in 2023 and 2024 - the two warmest years on record so far - means that any relief, even if temporary, is welcome. Global temperature data for January, available now from one of six temperature data sets tracked by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), shows that 2026 has started with a relief of that kind.

In a time when temperatures appear to be breaking past records every other month, January 2026 is only the fifth warmest January month on record. This relatively low level of warming in itself is a kind of record, an HT analysis shows, compared to how temperatures were behaving in the past two and half years. However, this relief is still just a cyclical blip. Here is how....