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State of the Climate

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Climatic Data Center

July 2012: hottest month on record for contiguous United States

Drought expands to cover nearly 63% of the Lower 48; wildfires consume 2 million acres

The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6F, 3.3F above the 20th century average, marking the hottest July and the hottest month on record for the nation. The previous warmest July for the nation was July 1936 when the average U.S. temperature was 77.4F. The warm July temperatures contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895.

Precipitation totals were mixed during July, with the contiguous U.S. as a whole being drier than average. The nationally averaged precipitation total of 2.57 inches was 0.19 inch below average. Near-record dry conditions were present for the middle of the nation, with the drought footprint expanding to cover nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48, according the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Note: The July Monthly Climate Report for the United States has several pages of supplemental information and data regarding some of the exceptional events from the month and season.

U.S. climate highlights: July

• Higher-than-average temperatures engulfed much of the contiguous U.S. during July, with the largest temperature departures from the 20th century average occurring across most of the Plains, the Midwest, and along the Eastern Seaboard. Virginia had its warmest July on record, with a statewide temperature 4.0F above average. In total, 32 states had July temperatures among its ten warmest, with seven states having their second warmest July on record.

• Drier-than-average conditions continued across the Central Plains and Midwest during July. Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri had July precipitation totals ranking among their ten driest. Maine had its fifth driest July on record.

• An active storm pattern in the Southwest contributed to California having its fifth wettest July on record and Nevada having its eighth wettest. Wetter-than-average conditions were also observed through the rest of the Southwest, along the western Gulf Coast, and through the Ohio Valley where West Virginia had its tenth wettest July.
• The warm and dry conditions over a large portion of the country were associated with ideal wildfire conditions. Over 2 million acres were burned nationwide during July due to wildfires, nearly half a million acres above average, and the fourth most on record since 2000.
• A list of select July temperature and precipitation records can be found here.

Drought conditions update

• The May-July months, an important period for agriculture, was the second warmest and 12th driest such three-months for the Lower 48, contributing to rapid expansion of drought. The central regions of the country were hardest hit by the drought, where ten states had three-month precipitation totals among their ten driest, including Nebraska, Kansas, and Arkansas which were record dry.

• According to the July 31, 2012, U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), 62.9 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing moderate to exceptional drought at the end of July. This is an increase of about 6.9 percent compared to the end of June. The maximum value of 63.9 percent reached on July 24 is a record in the 13-year history of the USDM.
• The area of the country in the worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) doubled from 10 percent last month to 22 percent this month. The extreme dryness and excessive heat devastated crops and livestock from the Great Plains to Midwest.
• The Primary Corn and Soybean Agricultural Belt, hard hit by drought, experienced its eighth driest July, third driest June-July, and sixth driest April-July (growing season) in the 1895-2012 record.
• According to the Palmer Drought Severity Index, whose record spans the 20th century, about 57 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing moderate-to-extreme drought in July. The last drought this extensive was in December 1956 when about 58 percent of the nation was in moderate-to-extreme drought.

Year-to-date: January-July

• The January-July period was the warmest first seven months of any year on record for the contiguous United States. The national temperature of 56.4F was 4.3F above the long-term average. Most of the contiguous U.S. was record and near-record warm for the seven-month period, except the Pacific Northwest, which was near average.

• The first seven months of 2012 were drier than average, ranking as 15th driest January-July on record. Below-average precipitation totals were observed for a large portion of the country, with 12 states having January-July precipitation totals among their ten driest. Above-average precipitation was observed for the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.
• The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (USCEI), an index that tracks the highest and lowest 10 percent of extremes in temperature, precipitation, drought and tropical cyclones across the contiguous U.S., was a record-large 46 percent during the January-July period, over twice the average value, and surpassing the previous record large CEI of 42 percent which occurred in 1934. Extremes in warm daytime temperatures (83 percent) and warm nighttime temperatures (74 percent) both covered record large areas of the nation, contributing to the record high year-to-date USCEI value.

12-month period: August 2011-July 2012

• The August 2011-July 2012 period was the warmest 12-month period of any 12-months on record for the contiguous U.S., narrowly surpassing the record broken last month for the July 2011-June 2012 period by 0.07F. The nationally averaged temperature of 56.1F was 3.3F above the long term average. Except Washington, which was near average, every state across the contiguous U.S. had warmer than average temperatures for the period.

  The ten warmest 12-month periods of the U.S. record. Click to enlarge, or click here for expanded information.

By Philip Bump

Lake Superior is the largest and northernmost Great Lake, containing almost three times as much water as Lake Michigan, the second largest in volume. In fact, it contains more water than the other Great Lakes combined. Which should mean that it�s cold.

Calling it hotis a stretch but all of the water is heating up far more than expected. From Climate Central (Which is also the source of the chart)

As the above chart shows, based on the 30-year average, the lake�s average water temperature should be in the mid-50s. But thanks to scant lake ice cover this past winter, along with a rare March heat wave and warmer-than-average weather since then, the lake began warming earlier than normal, and that warming has kept right on going. Wintertime ice cover on the Great Lakes was the lowest observed since such records began in 1980.

The chart itself is pretty amazing. At no point in 2012 has the surface temperature been below average, and it�s now spiking well above. Temperatures today range from 70 degrees at the southern shore to 60 at the northern-most points.

 

 

The Whole Article Below

 

http://grist.org/news/lake-superior-is-so-hot-right-now/

 

 

Global Highlights

• The average combined global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2012 was 0.63C (1.13F) above the 20^th century average of 15.5C (59.9F). This is the fourth warmest June since records began in 1880.


• The Northern Hemisphere land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2012 was the all-time warmest June on record, at 1.30C (2.34F) above average.


• The globally-averaged land surface temperature for June 2012 was also the all-time warmest June on record, at 1.07C (1.93F) above average.


• ENSO-neutral conditions continued in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean during June 2012 as sea surface temperature anomalies continued to rise. The June worldwide ocean surface temperatures ranked as the 10^th warmest June on record.


• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January�June 2012 was the 11^th warmest on record, at 0.52C (0.94F) above the 20^th century average.

Please Note: The data presented in this report are preliminary. Ranks and anomalies may change as more complete data are received and processed. Effective with the July 2010 State of the Climate Report, NCDC transitioned to the new version (version 3b) of the extended reconstructed sea surface temperature (ERSST) dataset. ERSST.v3b is an improved extended SST reconstruction over version 2. For more information about the differences between ERSST.v3b and ERSST.v2 and to access the most current data, please visit NCDC's Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

Introduction

Temperature anomalies for June 2012 are shown on the dot maps below. The dot maps on the left provide a spatial representation of anomalies calculated from the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) dataset of land surface stations using a 1961�1990 base period. The dot maps on the right are a product of a merged land surface and sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly analysis developed by Smith et al. (2008). For the merged land surface and SST analysis, temperature anomalies with respect to the 1971-2000 average for land and ocean are analyzed separately and then merged to form the global analysis. For more information, please visit NCDC's Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

Temperatures

In the atmosphere, 500-millibar height pressure anomalies correlate well with temperatures at the Earth's surface. The average position of the upper-level ridges of high pressure and troughs of low pressure�depicted by positive and negative 500-millibar height anomalies on the June 2012 map�is generally reflected by areas of positive and negative temperature anomalies at the surface, respectively.

June

The average global temperature across land and oceans during June 2012 was 0.63C (1.13F) above the 20^th century average of 15.5C (59.9F) and ranked as the fourth warmest June since records began in 1880. June 2012 also marks the 36^th consecutive June and 328^th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20^th century average. The last below-average June temperature was June 1976 and the last below-average temperature for any month was February 1985. It was the second warmest June in the Northern Hemisphere, behind only the record warmth of 2010. The Southern Hemisphere had its 12^th warmest June on record.

The global land surface temperature for June was 1.07C (1.93F) above the 20^th century average of 13.3C (55.9F), the warmest June on record. This is the second month in a row that the global land temperature was the warmest on record for that month.

The Northern Hemisphere average land temperature, where the majority of Earth's land is located, was record warmest for June. This makes three months in a row ' April, May, and June ' in which record-high monthly land temperature records were set. Most areas experienced much higher-than-average monthly temperatures, including most of North America and Eurasia, and northern Africa. Only northern and western Europe, and the northwestern United States were notably cooler than average.

• Austria recorded its highest ever June temperature of 37.7C (99.9F) on June 30^th in two locations � the capital city of Vienna and in German-Altenburg, Nope. This bests the previous record of 37.2C (98.9F) set on June 22^nd, 2000 in both Lutmannburg, Burganland and Langenlebarn, Nope. The monthly temperature averaged across Austria was the sixth warmest June since national records began 250 years ago.


• Norway experienced its 25^th coolest June since records began in 1900, at 1.2C (2.2F) below average. Parts of eastern Norway observed temperatures that were 2-3C (3.6-4.5F) below their local monthly averages.


• The monthly temperature during June in the United Kingdom was 0.3C (0.5F) below the 1971�2000 average, making this the coolest June since 1991.

The Southern Hemisphere land temperature was the 20^th warmest on record.

• Australia remained cooler than average during June. The average daytime (maximum) temperature was 0.27C (0.49F) below the 1961-1990 average, while the nighttime (minimum) temperature had a greater departure, 0.94C (1.69F) below average.

Across the world's oceans, the June average global sea surface temperature was 0.47�C (0.85F) above the 20^th century average of 16.4C (61.5F), the 10^th warmest June on record. Ocean temperatures were notably below average in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and much higher than average in the northeast Atlantic and in the Labrador Sea near Greenland. The region of the equatorial Pacific Ocean where ENSO conditions are measured also trended higher than average in June. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center issued an El Nino watch, and stated that there is an increased chance for El Ni�o beginning in July�September 2012.

Year-to-date (January-June)

 January-June 2012

Following the dissipation of La Nina in April, record warmth over land during May and June and increasing ocean temperature anomalies pushed 2012 near the top 10 warmest status for the first half of the year. The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the January�June period was 0.52C (0.94F) above the 20^th century average of 13.5C (56.3F), ranking as the 11^th warmest such period on record. The greatest January-June warmth was observed over most of North America, southern Greenland, and most of Russia. The first half of 2012 was notably cooler than average across Alaska, Mongolia, and Australia.

• Alaska had its 16^th coolest January�June since records began in 1918, with a temperature 1.5C (2.7F) below the 1971-2000 average.

Of note, the year-to-date global anomalies for 2012 have increased each month as the year has progressed and La Nina conditions waned - January: +0.35C (+0.65F); January-February: +0.37-C (+0.67-F); January-March: +0.39C (+0.70F); January-April: +0.46C (+0.83F); January-May: +0.50C (+0.90F), and JanuaryJune: +0.52C (+0.94F). The record for the warmest January-June was set in 2010, with a temperature that was 0.70C (1.26F) above average.

Global Year to Date Temperature Anomalies

The January�June worldwide land surface temperature was 0.87C (1.57F ) above the 20^th century average, marking the sixth warmest such period on record.

The global ocean surface temperature for the year to date was 0.39C (0.70F) above average and ranked as the 12^th warmest such period on record. This was the warmest monthly departure from average since August 2010.

Images of sea surface temperature conditions are available for all weeks during 2012 from the weekly SST page.

Precipitation

The maps below represent anomaly values based on the GHCN dataset of land surface stations using a base period of 1961-1990. As is typical, precipitation anomalies during June 2012 varied significantly around the world.

• Low pressure systems brought the United Kingdom its wettest June since national records began in 1910. England and Wales each tied with 1860 as the wettest June since their records began in 1766.


• The Southwest Asian monsoon made its way northward across India during June. As of June 27^th, the country as whole reported monthly rainfall that was 77 percent of the average amount received. Regionally, northwest India was just 37 percent of average, while east and northeast India was wetter than usual, at 104 percent of average. By the last week in June, the monsoon had reached central India.