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NOAA: April warm, dry over much of nation; second-warmest April since 1880 globally
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ^ | May 16, 2002

Posted on 05/21/2002 9:15:05 AM PDT by cogitator

WARM TEMPERATURES AND SEVERE DROUGHT CONTINUED IN APRIL THROUGHOUT PARTS OF UNITED STATES; GLOBAL TEMPERATURE FOR APRIL SECOND WARMEST ON RECORD

May 16, 2002 — Periods of record to near-record warmth and drier than normal conditions in April led to worsening drought in many areas of the United States, while beneficial rains fell in drought-affected areas of the Northeast. (Click image for larger view of NOAA's state temperature ranking from Nov. 2001 through April 2002.)

Preliminary data indicate that the average temperature in the contiguous United States was the 9th warmest on record for the month of April, and the second warmest globally since records began in the late 1800s, according to NOAA scientists.

Although April began with cooler than normal temperatures across much of the U.S., record warmth affected many cities from the Plains to the East Coast during the middle of the month. Daily high temperatures more than 15 degrees F (8 C) above average during this period contributed to an average monthly temperature of 54.6 degrees F (12.6 C) in the contiguous U.S., 2.6 degrees F (1.4 C) above the 1895-2002 long-term mean (based on preliminary data), the 9th warmest April since national records began in 1895. April temperatures in Alaska were cooler than average, 2.1 degrees F (1.2 C) below the 1961-1990 mean. The data come from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

For the month as a whole, temperatures were much above average in many states from Arizona to Florida and along the eastern seaboard as far north as Connecticut and Rhode Island. A record warm April occurred in North Carolina, South Carolina and New Mexico and three other states (Florida, New Jersey and Rhode Island) had their 3rd warmest April. Above normal temperatures have persisted throughout a large part of the central and eastern U.S. since late last year, most notably in the Midwest and Northeast. The November-April 2001/2002 six-month period was the record warmest in 16 states from Iowa to New England.

The continued anomalous warmth coincided with below-normal precipitation in parts of the U.S. which led to worsening drought conditions for some of the most severely affected regions of the country. Although a series of storms brought much-needed rainfall to parts of the Northeast and some improvement in drought from northern Virginia to Maine, the persistence of severe to extreme drought required the continuation of drought emergencies in many cities along the northeastern seaboard. Drought severity at the end of April was the worst since the extreme drought of the mid-1960's in parts of the region.

Below to much-below average precipitation occurred across most southern-tier states in April. Conditions have steadily worsened throughout a large part of the Southwest following a winter of very low snowfall totals that left snowpack levels at less than 50% of average in much of the region. By month's end, extreme drought covered a large part of the West from Montana to New Mexico and Arizona. The past seven months have been the driest October through April on record in Colorado, and the excessively dry conditions have led to numerous wildfires and concern that the 2002 wildfire season may be extremely active.

Montana has experienced some of the most severe drought conditions in the nation. In parts of the state, the drought began more than four years ago and the persistence of below-average precipitation and warmer than normal temperatures throughout much of the period led to a level of drought severity worse than any recorded in more than a century. The conditions have made dry-land farming extremely difficult in parts of Montana and many other states in the western U.S. Conditions on more than half of the range and pasture lands in Montana, Colorado and Arizona were rated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in early May as poor to very poor with more than 75 percent of the range and pastures in New Mexico rated poor to very poor. The extended drought also led to numerous dust storms from Montana to Colorado, resulting in incidents of brownouts and loss of topsoil. However, soil conservation programs implemented since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930's have prevented the recurrence of the devastating soil losses that occurred during that period.

Global:

The average global temperature for land and ocean surfaces combined (based on preliminary data) was 1.0 degree F (0.6 C) above the 1880-2001 long-term mean, the second warmest April for the period of record which began in 1880 (the period of reliable instrumental records). The warmest April occurred only four years ago during the last El Niño episode. Warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures were observed throughout most of the equatorial Pacific during April, and a slow evolution toward a weak to moderate El Niño episode is likely to continue throughout the remainder of 2002. (See NOAA news release at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s905.htm.

For the global ocean surface as a whole, the average temperature was 0.8 degrees F (0.4 C) above the long-term mean, the 2nd warmest April since 1880. The land surface global temperature was 3rd warmest, 0.5 degrees F (0.3 C) less than in 1998 and slightly less than the average April temperature in 2000.

Two of the past four months (January and March) were the warmest such months on record, and for the year-to-date four-month period (January-April), the combined land and ocean global temperature was 1.3 degrees F (0.7 C) above average, slightly less than the record warm four-month period of 1998. Global temperatures have increased at an average rate of approximately 1 degree F (0.6 C) per century since 1900, but the rate of warming during the past 25 years is almost three times higher.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: climate; drought; fires; globalwarminghoax; rain
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We continue to need rain here in central Maryland despite good recent rains. Hope the rest of you that need it, get it.

What's bizarre is how chilly it is now. Parts of central and western Maryland might get frost tonight.

1 posted on 05/21/2002 9:15:07 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: cogitator
I believe everything these guys say even though it was cold and wet here in the middle of the country. I guess in 1880 the green house gases were really out of control. Dammed cars.
2 posted on 05/21/2002 9:19:58 AM PDT by KSCITYBOY
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To: cogitator
SE Colorado reportedly dryest in a century.We've had about one inch since Jan 1.Even the native pinon pines are dying.Neighbors all selling their cows for lack of grass.
3 posted on 05/21/2002 9:21:31 AM PDT by IGNATIUS
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To: cogitator
These guys are lying. After looking at the map it was way wrong about Kansas & Missouri. What a bunch of bullsh*t.
4 posted on 05/21/2002 9:21:42 AM PDT by KSCITYBOY
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To: KSCITYBOY
Over 108 years, which is the span the weather analysts Davis and Russo at SSMB use, this past April ranked 45th for temperature levels in Missouri, nice and normal. The current month, if temps don't move higher, will rank 98th.

Clearly global warming (three consecutive all-time low temps overnight here, including last night).

5 posted on 05/21/2002 9:28:13 AM PDT by SAJ
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To: SAJ
Over 108 years, which is the span the weather analysts Davis and Russo at SSMB use, this past April ranked 45th for temperature levels in Missouri, nice and normal.

I don't know what SSMB stands for, but why do you think the SSMB analysis is so much different than the NOAA analysis?

8 posted on 05/21/2002 9:37:27 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: KSCITYBOY
After looking at the map it was way wrong about Kansas & Missouri.

Your comment isn't specific. How was it wrong?

(Note that the map isn't for April, it's for November 2001-April 2002).

9 posted on 05/21/2002 9:38:28 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: cogitator
(Note that the map isn't for April, it's for November 2001-April 2002).

And why average over 6 months at all? Is this how they presented the data in the past? Just show us the data for each month and let us draw our own conclusions.

We had a very mild winter in Florida, but this spring was brutally cold (comparitively speaking).

10 posted on 05/21/2002 9:44:02 AM PDT by balrog666
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To: balrog666
And why average over 6 months at all? Is this how they presented the data in the past? Just show us the data for each month and let us draw our own conclusions.

I don't know. I would have preferred to see a map of the April conditions, too. Wait for my next post.

11 posted on 05/21/2002 9:45:35 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: cogitator
Yeah, and May will go down as the second coldest month, hehehehe
12 posted on 05/21/2002 9:47:15 AM PDT by Intimidator
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To: cogitator

Climate of 2002: April in Historical Perspective

That's better. They are clearly trying to tell a story with their lead figure, which is barely discussed in the press release.

13 posted on 05/21/2002 9:48:20 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: cogitator
Its funny how we can set record new highs every year and it doesn't get any warmer.
14 posted on 05/21/2002 9:49:21 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: cogitator
That April 2002 map is either total crap or highlights a truely flawed data collection methodology. Ask anyone in Florida with a swimming pool about how the average temperature has been this year compared to previous years.
15 posted on 05/21/2002 9:53:02 AM PDT by balrog666
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To: 1/1,000,000th%
Its funny how we can set record new highs every year and it doesn't get any warmer.

Well I don't know about where you live, but I'd prefer at least a bit of ice and snow in the winter. This past winter was downright weird (and the lack of snowpack is seriously affecting reservoir levels and groundwater resources).

16 posted on 05/21/2002 9:53:37 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: balrog666
That April 2002 map is either total crap or highlights a truely flawed data collection methodology.

I was in the Tampa area near the end of April and a lot of "natives" were commenting that it was particularly hot and humid for that time of the spring. As somebody else pointed out, Florida covers a lot of area and a couple of climate zones. If the Panhandle and northern Florida were warmer than usual, it could compensate for cooler than normal conditions elsewhere.

17 posted on 05/21/2002 9:56:22 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: cogitator
I live in Illinois, just north of Chicago. We've had rain every week for over a month. Last night it was 33 degrees. Plus we've had record cold days several times in the last couple years. Last summer it was 45 degrees in July. The coldest day on record in Illinois was set in the winter of '99-'00, minus 37 degrees.

I vote for global warming.

18 posted on 05/21/2002 10:10:14 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: cogitator
What they don't tell is that April's data will likely be offset by colder-than-average months later on...... like MAY, which so far has been about 10 degrees below average in the North East, and featured snow across much of Northern NE a few days ago (later than I have EVER seen) and hard frost warnings for several subsequent days in a row.
19 posted on 05/21/2002 10:11:41 AM PDT by longshadow
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To: KSCITYBOY
It's interesting that they use 1880 as the starting point for their caculation of the average mean temperature. The ereption in 1883 caused the year without a summer and significently lowered global temps for a couple of years. I wonder how big a difference there would have been if they has used say 1902 as a starting point and measured the last century.

BTW I'd really like to see the comparison for the area at the start of the last mellinium. When Vikings were growing grapes in New Brunswick Canada (aka Vinland. I'm guessing the avg temps were much higher than were're seeing now.

20 posted on 05/21/2002 11:01:07 AM PDT by Leto
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