Global temperatures soared in April, marking the second hottest on record and exceeding the crucial 1.5C global warming threshold, according to scientists at the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Data reveals that April 2025 was 0.6C above the 1991-2020 average and a concerning 1.51C above pre-industrial levels. This marks the 21st month in nearly two years where global average surface air temperatures have surpassed the 1.5C limit.
The analysis, compiled from billions of measurements taken from satellites, ships, aircraft, and weather stations worldwide, paints a stark picture of a warming planet. The 12-month period from May 2024 to April 2025 was 1.58C above pre-industrial levels (defined as the estimated 1850-1900 average).
This sustained period of elevated temperatures is particularly alarming as it occurred despite the cooling influence of the "La Nina" pattern in the Pacific.
Ocean temperatures also reflect the warming trend. Sea surface temperatures, excluding polar regions, averaged 20.89C, making it the second hottest April for oceans on record, just behind last year.
Temperatures were predominantly above average across Europe, with the largest warm anomalies recorded over eastern Europe, western Russia, Kazakhstan and Norway.
The average temperature over land was 9.38C, which is some 1.01C above the 1991-2020 average for April, making it the sixth warmest April for Europe.
They were also mostly above average over the Russian Far East, in a large part of west-central Asia, over most of North America, part of Australia, and across the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica.
However, southern South America, eastern Canada in the Great Lakes region and over the Hudson Bay, across north-eastern Greenland and Svalbard, over northern Australia and east Antarctica all saw most temperatures below average.
Elsewhere, Arctic sea ice extent was 3% below average, the sixth lowest monthly extent for April in the 47-year satellite record, following four months with record low monthly values for the time of year.
Antarctic sea ice extent was 10% below average, making it the 10th lowest on record for the month.
Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts which runs C3S, said: “Globally, April 2025 was the second hottest April on record, continuing the long sequence of months over 1.5C above pre-industrial.
“Continuous climate monitoring is an essential tool for understanding and responding to the ongoing changes of our climate system.”
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