U.S.
Has Warmest Year-to-Date As Drought Expands
Chart
of the warmest 12-month periods on record in the U.S. Credit:
NOAA/NCDC.
9
July, 2012
The
U.S. continued its hot streak through June, recording the warmest
January-to-June period on record, with drought conditions spreading
across the Lower 48 states to an unprecedented degree. According to
statistics released Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), June was the 14th warmest such month on
record, and the past 12 months were the warmest such period on
record. At the end of the month, 56 percent of the country was
experiencing drought conditions, which NOAA said was the largest
drought footprint of the 21st century.
Thanks
to an intense heat wave that struck during the second half of June
and only just subsided, more than 170 all-time high temperature
records were set or tied across the country during the month. Many
cities across the country, from Albuquerque, N.M., to Washington,
D.C., experienced June temperatures that were far above their typical
values.
"In
some locations, 2012 temperatures have been so dramatically different
that they establish a new 'neighborhood' apart from the historical
year-to-date temperatures," a NOAA report said.
The
warm June followed the warmest spring on record, which was the
culmination of the warmest March, third-warmest April, and
second-warmest May. This marks the first time that all three months
during the spring season ranked among the 10 warmest, since records
began in 1895.
In
June, said NOAA scientists, the average daily temperature for the
lower 48 states was a full 2.0°F above the 20th-century average.
The
U.S. Climate Extremes Index, which tracks the highest and lowest 10
percent of extremes in temperature, precipitation, drought and
tropical storms/hurricanes, was a record-large 44 percent during the
January-to-June period. That was more than twice the average value,
driven largely by warm daily high and warm overnight low
temperatures.
A
scientific panel known as the U.S. State Climate Extremes Committee
is reviewing a temperature reading of 113°F in South Carolina, and
112°F in Georgia, to determine if they qualify as the warmest
temperature ever recorded in those two states.
Chart
of how 2012's temperatures stack up against other warm years in
Chicago.
What’s
more significant is that the January-June period was the warmest such
period since 1895; ditto for the 12-month period from July, 2011
through last month. Every state across the Lower 48 states had
warmer-than-average temperatures during the July 2011 to June 2012
period, except for Washington, where temperatures were near normal.
Colorado,
by contrast, had its warmest June on record, with temperatures
averaging 6.4°F above average. Seven other Western states had a top
10 warm June. It was also extremely dry in the West, which led to the
devastating wildfires that erupted in Colorado, including the deadly
Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs. In Colorado Springs, the
average June temperature was 5.4°F above average, which was the
warmest in 64 years.
Across
the country, wildfires burned more than 1.3 million acres during
June, the second most on record for the month.
Nationwide,
the news wasn’t much better when it came to precipitation: thanks
to the 10th driest June on record (precipitation nationwide was about
20 percent below average, or 2.27 inches vs. a normal 2.89). By
itself, that might not have meant much, but with the West (excluding
the West Coast) experiencing either record or near-record dry
conditions, and with low precipitation in many areas over many
preceding months, more than half the nation (56 percent, to be
precise) was officially in drought, according to the U.S. Drought
Monitor. That’s the largest “drought footprint” of the 21st
century, notwithstanding the terrible droughts that plagued the
nation last year.
The
most recent U.S. Drought Outlook doesn't offer much hope for the High
Plains and much of the West. Credit: NOAA/CPC.
Some
of the most intense heat during June was felt from the Plains to the
Midwest. In Chicago, the average temperature during the month was
nearly 7°F above average, which was the warmest June in 54 years. In
Fargo, N.D., and Des Moines, Iowa, June temperatures were also 7°F
or more above average. It was the warmest June in Fargo in 71 years.
Even
International Falls, Minn., located at the border with Canada and
widely referred to as the "nation's icebox," had
temperatures that ran more than 6°F above average for the month,
which was the second-warmest in 78 years there. In Washington, D.C.,
which experienced record-breaking heat in late June into early July,
the month of June was the warmest in 67 years, and the
January-to-June period was the warmest such period on record.
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