monthly

And the heat goes on

October 16, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

August 2024 was the hottest August in the 175-years for which there are global records. The last full month of summer also wrapped up the Northern Hemisphere‘s warmest summer on record.

The average global surface temperature in August was 62.39 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 2.29 degrees above the 20th century August average. Furthermore, August was the 15th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, which is a record in and of itself.

Regionally, Europe and Oceana had their warmest August on record. Asia had its second-warmest August, and Africa and North America had their third-warmest August.

The summer in the Northern Hemisphere was a record-breaker with a temperature 2.74 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Thinking about climate goals, this is 1.52 degrees Celsius above average, which is a troubling amount. Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, where it was winter in the June-to-August period, it was also the warmest ever with a temperature 1.73 degrees Fahrenheit above average.

Globally, this year to date ranks as the warmest ever recorded with a temperature 2.3 degrees above the 20th-century average. With a few months to go, the prediction is that there is a 97% chance that 2024 will rank as the world’s warmest year on record.

Other aspects of the global climate system were consistent with these record-breaking temperatures. The global ocean surface temperature for June through August was the warmest on record.

These monthly climate reports have an unfortunate similarity: the heat goes on.

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Earth had its hottest August in 175-year record

Photo, posted June 22, 2021, courtesy of Vicky Brock via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The hottest day on record

August 21, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There have been numerous temperature records set in recent years. Apart from record high temperatures for many places around the world, there were 13 consecutive monthly temperature records set for the planet since the previous summer.

According to NASA data, July 22, 2024, was the hottest day on record. July 21st and 23rd also exceeded the previous daily record, which was set in July last year. The new record was 17.16 degrees Celsius, or about 63 degrees Fahrenheit.

We are not used to thinking in terms of the global average temperature. That is the number that keeps climbing and that climate goals seek to keep from getting too high. The global average temperature is about 59 degrees Fahrenheit. So, on July 22nd, the Earth was about 4 degrees warmer than usual. That may not seem like much, but it takes an enormous amount of energy to raise the temperature of the planet by that amount.

The NASA report shows the global daily temperature throughout the year for the years 1980 to 2024. It clearly shows how much warmer temperatures are now compared with the previous decades.

In many places, people experienced persistent hot weather during the month of July. New York’s Capital Region saw relentless hot and humid weather. There were 9 days with high temperatures in the 90s. July in Albany had a monthly mean temperature of 77.3 degrees, which was the highest in any current resident’s lifetime. This is more than 4 degrees higher than the average over the past 30 years. The last time the average temperature was over 77 was in 1887. July was hot.

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NASA Data Shows July 22 Was Earth’s Hottest Day on Record

Photo, posted October 22, 2016, courtesy of Susanne Nilsson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A wet January

March 6, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

For the first time in a while, the monthly report on the US climate did not feature record-setting heat. The average January temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 1.6 degrees above the average, but that only ranked it in the middle third of the climate record. The diminishing El Niño probably helped. On the other hand, the global average temperature in January was again the warmest on record – the 8^th consecutive record-setting month.

But January still managed to be atypical weatherwise in the U.S. in that the nation’s average precipitation across the country was 3.18 inches – nearly an inch above average – which made it the 10th wettest January in NOAA’s 130-year climate record. Thirteen states experienced top-ten rainfall amounts. In late January, record rainfall and flooding hit the southern plains, especially in parts of Texas and Louisiana. Meanwhile, early February brought historic rainfall and mountain snow to California with a second round later in the month.

All of the rainfall in January has made some difference to drought conditions across the country. On January 30th, about 23.5% of the contiguous U.S. was In drought, which was 9.5% lower than the beginning of the month. However, drought conditions expanded or intensified across northern parts of the Rockies and Plains among a few other places.

Outside of the lower-48, Alaska continued to experience historic snowfall conditions. Between October and the end of January, Anchorage had over 100 inches of snow.

We are living in an era of weather extremes.

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The nation just saw its 10th-wettest January on record

Photo, posted February 8, 2017, courtesy of Paxson Woelber via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio