UAH v6.1 Global Temperature Update for January, 2026: +0.35 deg. C

From Dr. Roy Spencer’s Global Warming Blog

by Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D.

The Version 6.1 global average lower tropospheric temperature (LT) anomaly for January, 2026 was +0.35 deg. C departure from the 1991-2020 mean, up a little from the December, 2025 value of +0.30 deg. C.

The Version 6.1 global area-averaged linear temperature trend (January 1979 through January 2026) remains at +0.16 deg/ C/decade (+0.22 C/decade over land, +0.13 C/decade over oceans).

The following table lists various regional Version 6.1 LT departures from the 30-year (1991-2020) average for the last 25 months (record highs are in red).

YEAR	MO	GLOBE	NHEM.	SHEM.	TROPIC	USA48	ARCTIC	AUST
2024	Jan	+0.80	+1.02	+0.57	+1.20	-0.19	+0.40	+1.12
2024	Feb	+0.88	+0.94	+0.81	+1.16	+1.31	+0.85	+1.16
2024	Mar	+0.88	+0.96	+0.80	+1.25	+0.22	+1.05	+1.34
2024	Apr	+0.94	+1.12	+0.76	+1.15	+0.86	+0.88	+0.54
2024	May	+0.77	+0.77	+0.78	+1.20	+0.04	+0.20	+0.52
2024	June	+0.69	+0.78	+0.60	+0.85	+1.36	+0.63	+0.91
2024	July	+0.73	+0.86	+0.61	+0.96	+0.44	+0.56	-0.07
2024	Aug	+0.75	+0.81	+0.69	+0.74	+0.40	+0.88	+1.75
2024	Sep	+0.81	+1.04	+0.58	+0.82	+1.31	+1.48	+0.98
2024	Oct	+0.75	+0.89	+0.60	+0.63	+1.89	+0.81	+1.09
2024	Nov	+0.64	+0.87	+0.40	+0.53	+1.11	+0.79	+1.00
2024	Dec	+0.61	+0.75	+0.47	+0.52	+1.41	+1.12	+1.54
2025	Jan	+0.45	+0.70	+0.21	+0.24	-1.07	+0.74	+0.48
2025	Feb	+0.50	+0.55	+0.45	+0.26	+1.03	+2.10	+0.87
2025	Mar	+0.57	+0.73	+0.41	+0.40	+1.24	+1.23	+1.20
2025	Apr	+0.61	+0.76	+0.46	+0.36	+0.81	+0.85	+1.21
2025	May	+0.50	+0.45	+0.55	+0.30	+0.15	+0.75	+0.98
2025	June	+0.48	+0.48	+0.47	+0.30	+0.80	+0.05	+0.39
2025	July	+0.36	+0.49	+0.23	+0.45	+0.32	+0.40	+0.53
2025	Aug	+0.39	+0.39	+0.39	+0.16	-0.06	+0.82	+0.11
2025	Sep	+0.53	+0.56	+0.49	+0.35	+0.38	+0.77	+0.30
2025	Oct	+0.53	+0.52	+0.55	+0.24	+1.12	+1.42	+1.67
2025	Nov	+0.43	+0.59	+0.27	+0.24	+1.32	+0.78	+0.36
2025	Dec	+0.30	+0.45	+0.15	+0.19	+2.10	+0.32	+0.37
2026	Jan	+0.35	+0.52	+0.19	+0.09	+0.30	+1.40	+0.95

The full UAH Global Temperature Report, along with the LT global gridpoint anomaly map for January, 2026 and a more detailed analysis by John Christy, should be available within the next several days here.

The monthly anomalies for various regions for the four deep layers we monitor from satellites will be available in the next several days at the following locations:

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bnice2000

February 4, 2026 6:22 pm

El Nino event still slowly decaying..

I wonder how much further it will drop over the next few months.

Eldrosion

Reply to bnice2000

February 4, 2026 7:42 pm

Funny how deniers live in their own little fantasy world.

We’ve been in a La Nina since late 2024, and we’re now beginning to transition out of those conditions.

When you step back and look at the bigger picture:

-5

Milo

Reply to Eldrosion

February 4, 2026 8:12 pm

Jan24: 0.80 C
Jan25: 0.45 C
Jan26: 0.35 C

Post Tongan eruption cooling effect intact, exactly as predicted by climate realists!

Eldrosion

Reply to Milo

February 4, 2026 8:16 pm

Jan 1984: -0.5C
Jan 1997: -0.3C
Jan 2001: -0.19C
Jan 2018: +0.15C
Jan 2026: +0.35C

Looking at Januaries under similar La Nina influence.

Global warming on track.

-4

Chris Hanley

Reply to Eldrosion

February 4, 2026 8:40 pm

While there is no explanation of what the heavy red line is purported to be, trend lines only inform about the past and have nil, zero, predictive value.

karlomonte

February 4, 2026 6:32 pm

Intro to time series:
https://www.wmbriggs.com/post/59251/

Signal & noise & the Deadly Sin of Reification:
https://www.wmbriggs.com/post/59791/

Trendology:
https://www.wmbriggs.com/post/59886/

Fraizer

February 4, 2026 6:55 pm

This thread is always fun. Tends to bring out the crazies to argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Mr.

Reply to Fraizer

February 4, 2026 8:04 pm

Tru dat.

Bellman

February 4, 2026 7:16 pm

This is the 6th warmest January in the UAH data set. Though apart from 2024, there isn’t much to choose between the warmest months.

 1 2024 0.80
 2 2025 0.45
 3 2016 0.42
 4 2020 0.41
 5 2010 0.36
 6 2026 0.35
 7 1998 0.34
 8 2013 0.31
 9 2007 0.29
10 2017 0.26

Apart from 2024, most of the top 10 are fairly close, so there isn’t much significance to the exact rankings.

-3

Bellman

Reply to Bellman

February 4, 2026 7:22 pm

The map shows the highest anomalies over Greenland, whilst Europe and parts of the US are the main cold areas.

-3

Bellman

Reply to Bellman

February 4, 2026 7:28 pm

As an experiment here’s the same map using the tidyterra package and a gradient fill.

-3

Bellman

Reply to Bellman

February 4, 2026 7:36 pm

And here are the last 12 months.

-3

Eldrosion

Reply to Bellman

February 4, 2026 7:49 pm

Cue:

“Thank you for showing the eL NINO !!!!”

-4

Eldrosion

February 4, 2026 7:52 pm

The UAH warming trend from July 2012 to January 2026 is 0.38C/decade.

-4

Richard M

Reply to Eldrosion

February 4, 2026 8:15 pm

Having the Hunga-Tonga warming close to the end provides most of that trend. It’s already dissipating which means trends starting in 2023 are probably going to be negative for many years.

Richard M

February 4, 2026 8:12 pm

It appears like most of the Hunga-Tonga warming has faded away. We could still see up to an additional 0.2 C cooling over the next couple of years.

The next big change would seem to be the 64 ± 4 year cycle phase change. The last warm-to-cool transition occurred in 1962. We would appear to be due and maybe as soon as this year. Whenever it occurs, I expect to see a quick cooling of as much as 0.5 C over the first few years along with the AMO going negative.

Of course, Mother Nature often throws us some curve balls. Another major eruption or El Nino would certainly mask any changes.

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