Climate chaos

October Was 332nd Consecutive Globally Warm Month

Wired,

19 November, 2012

Twenty-seven or younger? Then you’ve never experienced a month in which the global temperature has been colder than average, according to the latest data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In NOAA’s monthly “State of the Climate” analysis, the agency reported: “The average temperature across land and ocean surfaces during October was 14.63°C. This is 0.63°C above the 20th century average and ties with 2008 as the fifth warmest October on record. This is the 332nd consecutive month with an above-average temperature.”

This is global data, of course, and the pattern is rather more complex at a local level. In fact, the average monthly temperature in Britain in October was 1.3 degrees Celsius below average, making it the coldest October since 2003. Scotland had its coldest October since records began in 1910.

But this was outweighed by the rest of the world, including central and southeastern Europe. Croatia was 1.1 to 1.6 degrees Celsius above the 1961-to-1990 average, and Moldova was even hotter: 2.5 to 3.5 degrees Celsius above average.

You can find full information about the state of the climate in October 2012 over on NOAA’s website.