FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Leslie 301-713-2087, ext. 174
Aug. 8, 2008
NOAA: U.S. Temperature Above Normal in July
July 2008 was the 30th warmest July for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The average July temperature—74.9 degrees F—was 0.7 degrees above the 20th century mean, based on preliminary data.
U.S. Temperature Highlights
- July temperatures were generally higher than average across the West and Northeast and below average in the Midwest.
- Five states (Conn., Mass., N.J., R.I. and Utah) were much warmer than average. Rhode Island had its sixth warmest July, and Massachusetts and Utah both had their eighth warmest July, based on statewide data going back to 1895. Six states (Ill., Ind., Ky., Mo., N.M. and W.Va.) were cooler than average.
- Based on NOAA’s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index, contiguous U.S. temperature-related energy demand was approximately three percent above average in July.
U.S. Precipitation Highlights
- An average of 2.90 inches of precipitation fell across the contiguous United States in July, which is near the 20th century average of 2.76 inches.
- Seven states (Ill., Mass., Mo., N.H., N.Y., R.I. and Vt.) were much wetter than average, with Vermont having its third wettest July on record. Massachusetts and New Hampshire had their fifth wettest July.
- Idaho and Louisiana were much drier than average, with Idaho having its sixth driest July on record and Louisiana its seventh driest July.
- The lack of significant rainfall across the Southeast had little impact on drought conditions. At the end of July, 59 percent of the region was classified in moderate-to-exceptional drought, based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. For the contiguous U.S., about 28 percent of the nation was in moderate to exceptional drought.
Midwest Flooding
- Heavy rains fell across parts of the Midwest again in July, continuing a trend that began last October. An area from central Iowa through northeastern Missouri and western Illinois accumulated more than twice the normal July rainfall. At Long Branch Reservoir in north central Missouri, 18.64 inches fell – more than three times the normal amount. The heavy rains triggered widespread flash flooding in Missouri and Iowa. Mark Twain Lake in Missouri reached a record of 640.36 feet above mean sea level on July 30. Illinois and Missouri had their wettest January to July on record.
Wildfires
- Continued dry conditions in July across northern and central California hindered efforts to contain a dozen large wildfires. Large fires also developed last month in other states, including Texas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. From January 1st to July 31st, 53,796 wildfires have burned more than 3.5 million acres of the United States, according to statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center. This activity is close to the 1999-2008 average and well below the year-to-date extent of the past two years.
Other Events
- A rare EF-2 tornado struck in New Hampshire on July 24 and claimed one life and injured several others.
- Hurricane Bertha formed in the tropical Atlantic on July 3, and while not making landfall, was the longest-lived, pre-August Atlantic tropical cyclone on record. It became extratropical on July 20. The same day, Hurricane Dolly developed in the Caribbean Sea and made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane at South Padre Island, Texas on July 22. Dolly is the most intense tropical cyclone to make U.S. landfall since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
- Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Dolly brought relief from drought across parts of the Southwest and in southern Texas. However, up to eight inches of rain fell within 36 hours over parts of southern New Mexico, resulting in many flash floods, which claimed one life, and brought total property damage estimates of around $1.5 billion.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.
On the Web:
NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov
NCDC July 2008 analysis: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2008/jul/jul08.html
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A must read for the weekend!
http://web.mac.com/sinfonia1/Global_Warming_Politics/A_Hot_Topic_Blog/Entries/2008/8/8_Green_Backlash.html
NOAA – National Obsession Accentuation Agency
Anything to prove their religion is correct. Again I refer to an incredible
exposition on the religion of AGW (Thank you Freeman Dyson):
The Question of Global Warming
A MUST read for any who are really interested in the issue of AGW. It goes without saying that our government agencies are deeply invested in the PYA concept, having invested so much in a religion that will get some people a lot of money.
A number of my family were given to mathematics and statistics. One of them once commented: “Figures lie, and liars figure.”
Let us run these temps thru Hansens’s Magical Mystery temperature algorithm and i am sure it will be among the highest temperatures ever.
Susan (09:10:13) : I find the temperature readings hard to believe. This has been the coolest summer in So Cal that I can remember and I have hardly had to use the AC. Interesting to say the least
I live right outside of DC. DC is notorious for its summer weather. The house that I live in was built 50 years ago and doesn’t have central a/c. Sometimes it seems the upstairs bedrooms need a/c even in winter but, this year, I’ve only had to resort to it once upstairs. Go figure…
I believe that here in the Phoenix, AZ area, July temperatures were below average (based on the “official” airport readings), and precipitation is something like 1.5″ above average. Not bad when average precip is something like 7 or 8″. I guess they wouldn’t comment on areas that are below average temperature or having non-AGW related weather. Oh, also I think we had a much milder wildfire season in AZ – which is good because it left resources available for the California fires.
Tom Shields — “Since gloom and doom prognosticators say that all the oil reserves in the world will be used up in approximately 50 years, why do we even worry about more gloom and doom predications from basically the same group of people that in 50 years the planet might be in crisis due to CO2 based global warming?”
Indeed. You would think that the D(Gl)oom crowd (the greens) would be all over advocating using up the oil as fast as possible so that in 50 years all of their dreams would come true: man would no longer pollute the environment, largely because most humans would die off anyway thus allowing them to achieve what they think is a “sustainable” population.
(Anytime a green says “sustainable” what they mean is that the earth ought to contain a mere 200 million souls. They are more informed by Marx and Ehrlich than science, and ironically they call it science. The mind boggles.)
Of course, logical consistency isn’t a green trait, is it? “We want power sources that don’t emit CO2. That’s the most important thing.” Cool, we know how to do nuclear power. “Oh no, we can’t do that.” Well then, is CO2 important or not? Obviously the answer is that it’s not, that what’s important is that they get to dictate.
“NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.”
Wow those guys are really, really smart. Why don’t they go ahead and predict two or three monthly means? They can predict a few solar surface events while they are at it. Let’s see how close they get…
Maybe they can explain the sun to Leif too.
Wow Marot, 2035 is a near-time prediction That’s 27 years… I believe the UNEP made some predictions July 1989. I wonder how those worked out?
“According to July 5, 1989, article in the Miami Herald, the then-director of the New York office of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Noel Brown, warned of a “10-year window of opportunity to solve” global warming. According to the 1989 article, “A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000. Coastal flooding and crop failures would create an exodus of ‘eco-refugees,’ threatening political chaos.”
Not too awe inspiring I’m afraid.
It is interesting to note that Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island are all high-population-density states, where the likelihood of urban heat island contamination is higher than average. That is not to say that NOAA doesn’t manage to obtain tainted results even in truly rural locations. Even in the absence of a La Nina, the Pacific is cool — tons of record lows all summer from Alaska to Monterey, California.
“NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.”
Sounds like good job for Obama if that USA President thing doesn’t work out for him.
NOAA must be high on something. MA may be a high population state with a massive Urban Heat Island, but we froze this July. From persional exerience — I used to leave on a three week vacation in mid-August back in the 70s and until I left we had almost continuous summer heat, which had only broken by the time I got back the week after Labor Day. This year the summer heat ended in late July and I have been using a blanket for the last week. I work outside and from 2001 to 2005 I had to keep two or three bottles of ice with me all the time for me to drink as it melted. This year, I only used one.
Bill Marsh (10:10:02) :
No. You’re not supposed to mention that.
Here’s the graph’s for July. 1901-2000 for the baseline.
Temp
http://climvis.ncdc.noaa.gov/tmp/graph-Aug815:02:074237060546.gif
Precip
http://climvis.ncdc.noaa.gov/tmp/graph-Aug815:09:194209289550.gif
Wow… that’s sad. I honestly thought as I was reading through the press release that I would get to the bottom and find out it was written by The Onion or something. After pretty much the ENTIRE year being cooler on average finally a month shows up that is slightly warmer and they have to put out a press release!?
It’s things like this that make me think they are beginning to grasp at straws. Why no press release for the rest of the year being cooler? Why no reporting when things don’t go as you predict? Confirmation bias much?
Just wanted to congratulate Anthony and all who contribute here. You just recorded three million hits!
Mike Bryant
Dav,
“A rare EF-2 tornado struck in New Hampshire on July 24 and claimed one life and injured several others”
English is such an imprecise language. I think that means that the EF-2 Tornado was rare, as in possessing unusual properties not normally found in EF-2 Tornados, not that EF-2 Tornados themselves are rare.
From M White’s link above (10:14:35) :
Lead author David Bader issues a personal opinion and “concedes” that he has no backing for it.
This is science?? No, Mr. Bader is engaging in unscientific, partisan, money-grubbing advocacy.
Mr. Bader should read this peer reviewed paper, which shows that computer models do not, and can not, predict the climate: click
You want to see the direction of the temp. go to United States Climate Summary put in year to date the period 2000 through 2008 and see what direction the temperature is taking.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. NOAA completely understands and predicts the devastating effects of CO2 on Earth’s climate and people. NOAA also accomplishes these wonderful things on a budget that does not allow us to upgrade our hard drives, arrange for timely backups of our computers, or follow the requirements of laws that require logs for quality assurance. We also adjust, homogenize, smooth and massage data as required so that the data matches our truth. Trust us. We know what we are doing.
NOAA: July 2008 was the 30th warmest July for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The average July temperature—74.9 degrees F—was 0.7 degrees above the 20th century mean, based on preliminary data.
Even setting aside Anthony, enc.’s, rather unsettling findings regarding the likely lack of scientific credibility of the vast majority of U.S. surface station temps, and thus the apparent lack of sufficient intent of the part of the “Climate Science” data-gatherers to actually do science ab initio:
Still, since the NCDC also intends to use the provenly unscientific Mann Hockey Stick Figure in its new climate position paper, I simply don’t believe anything else NOAA/NCDC says, that is, at least until whatever they say is actually confirmed and perhaps even put into perspective scientifically by an independent source.
NOAA still has a chance to significantly help to rectify this particular self-discrediting situation by deleting the Mann HS figure from its proposed NCDC position paper [as I have already helpfully recommended to NOAA/NCDC, since the scientists there apparently don’t read Climate Audit, the publications by M and M, read and follow the findings of the NAS, etc..]
On models being predictive, an interesting article:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/news/2008/08/accuracy_of_cli_1.html
“Despite using two climate models that both predicted the same future climate, they found the biological impacts were vastly different depending on which model was used. Their findings were recently published in the journal Global Change Biology.”
[…]
“Predictions based on the Canadian model indicated the species would expand across Ontario and into northern and western regions of Canada and northern United States because these areas would provide the warm and moist conditions favourable to the swede midge. Whereas the predictions based on the British model indicated the areas suitable for the insect would significantly shrink.”
Sorry, but i having a real problem believing that they know the average on July in 1895 as compared to 2008. The numbers in 1895 were most likly more accurate than today. If that tells you what I think of this.
I do wonder what the mean temp really is> I have for my own curiosity computed the mean for my location here in N E Alabama. For my location it was 77.2. Not bad for the deep south. They are predicting that we might have a record low temp on Sunday morning in Birmingham, Al. we only had 5 days with a low of 70 or above and the highest was 73.8. We only had 10 days with 90 or above the highest was 95.2. I think that this is just a tad (that means a little bit in southern) below normal for the month of July.
As for predicted crop failures if they don’t happen on their own just make mandatory shift of portions of the crops to fuel and watch what happens suddenly you don’t have a surplus but stress to make the needed amounts for food stuffs. If there is then a short fall guess what we just had a crop failure for food stuffs. Remember there is a subsidy for the fuel production and food stuff is only market driven. Instant shortage.
Don’t you just love the green agenda.
Bill Derryberry
Deadwood:
With a skill and level of precision like that you could work for NOAA!! There was an old sitcom on BBC – “Never mind the quality, feel the width”
According to the graph Brian D referenced, this July was the 3rd coldest of the last eleven years.