Global Climate ReportJanuary 2023

2023 Year-to-Date Temperatures Versus Previous Years

This graphic compares the year-to-date temperature anomalies for 2023 (black line) to what were ultimately the ten warmest years on record: 2016 (1st), 2020 (2nd), 2019 (3rd), 2017 (4th), 2015 (5th), 2022 (5th), 2018 (7th), 2021 (7th), 2014 (9th), and 2010 (10th). Each month along each trace represents the year-to-date average temperature anomaly. In other words, the January value is the January average temperature anomaly, the February value is the average anomaly of both January and February, and so on.

The average global land and ocean surface temperature for January 2023 was 0.87ยฐC (1.57ยฐF) above the 20th century average of 12.0ยฐC (53.6ยฐF). This was the seventh-warmest January in the 174-year global record.

The anomalies themselves represent departures from the 20th century average temperature. The graph zooms into the warmest part of the entire history.


Citing This Report

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Monthly Global Climate Report for January 2023, published online February 2023, retrieved on February 20, 2025 from https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/global/202301/page-1. DOI: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.ncdc:C00672