According to the institute, Nuuk registered an average temperature of 0.1°C (32°F) for the month — a striking 7.8°C above the January average calculated over the past three decades. The figure also surpassed the city’s previous January record set in 1917 by 1.4°C, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
On the warmest day of the month in Nuuk, temperatures climbed to an unseasonably mild 11.3°C.
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The record warmth was not limited to the capital. From Greenland’s southern tip along the entire west coast — spanning more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) — January temperatures reached new monthly highs, DMI reported.
In Ilulissat, located in Disko Bay, the average temperature for January was recorded at -1.6°C. That was 1.3°C warmer than the previous record set in 1929 and approximately 11°C above the long-term January norm.
While brief periods of warmer air occasionally move across Greenland, bringing milder conditions for short stretches, the widespread and sustained nature of this month’s temperature records signals a broader trend, DMI climate researcher Martin Olesen said.
“Such an extended heat record across such a large area is a clear indication that something is changing,” Olesen noted. “We know and can clearly see that global warming is well underway, which, as expected, leads to more records at the warm end of the temperature scale and gradually fewer records at the low end.”
The Arctic remains one of the regions most affected by climate change. Since 1979, it has been warming at roughly four times the global average rate, according to a 2022 study published in the scientific journal Nature.
