NOAA: Above Average Temperatures in U.S. for August, Summer;
Midwest Much Drier than Average in August, South Much Wetter
This June-August 2008 summer season was the 22nd warmest on record for the contiguous United States, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Also, last month ended as the 39th warmest August for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895.
[Update by John Goetz: The title has been corrected to indicate that August was the 39th warmest and not the 22nd warmest on record. Thanks to several commenters for pointing this out.]
The average summer temperature of 72.7 degrees F is 0.8 degree F above the 20th century average, based on preliminary data. The average August temperature was 73.2 degrees F, which is 0.4 degree above average.
U.S. Temperature Highlights
- California had its ninth warmest summer, while New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island had their eighth warmest summers.
- The western United States experienced its fourth warmest August on record, with an average temperature of 75.3 degrees F, 2.9 degrees above the 20th century mean.
- While temperatures in most western states were above normal in August, temperatures across much of the eastern half of the U.S. were below normal.
- Cooler temperatures in the east and warmer temperatures in the western U.S. contributed to a near average national residential energy consumption for August and the summer season. Based on NOAA’s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index, temperature-related energy demand was just 3.5 percent below average in August, and 4.2 percent above average for the summer.
U.S. Precipitation Highlights
- For June through August, precipitation across the contiguous United States averaged 9.05 inches, 0.8 inch above the 1901-2000 average and ranks as the 15th wettest summer since 1895.
- An average of 3.11 inches fell across the contiguous U.S. in August, 0.51 inch above average. This was the ninth wettest August on record for the nation.
- Eight states (Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) were much wetter than average for August. Mississippi had its all-time wettest August, and Florida and Alabama their second wettest August on record.
- Seven states (Delaware, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin) were much drier than average. Delaware had its driest August on record, Kentucky had its third driest August and Wisconsin ranked sixth driest.
- Drought conditions in the southeast United States improved slightly in August, thanks to heavy rains from Tropical Storm Fay. However, the western Carolinas remained in exceptional drought and severe-to-extreme drought affected eastern Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, western North Dakota, Texas, and several of the Hawaiian Islands, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Moderate-to- severe drought also covered nearly all of California and much of Nevada. At the end of August, 24 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate to extreme drought, a decrease of four percent from July.
- Fay also brought extensive flooding to Florida, where Jacksonville and Tallahassee each recorded 16.5 inches of rain, making this the wettest August on record for these cities. Thomasville, Ga., totaled 27.5 inches in August, and Fort Pierce, Fla., and Orlando broke their all-time 24-hour precipitation records with 8.84 and 8.23 inches, respectively. August 20-22 saw 18.48 inches of rain fall in Melbourne, Fla., a three-day record.
Other Highlights
- Four named Atlantic tropical cyclones – Tropical Storm Edouard, Tropical Storm Fay Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Hanna – developed in August. Edouard made landfall in Port Arthur, Texas on Aug. 5. Fay made an initial landfall in Key West, Fla., on Aug. 18. Gustav struck Grand Isle, La., on Sept. 1. August usually sees an average of three Atlantic/Caribbean tropical cyclones and on average one makes landfall in the U.S. every 2.3 years.
- Severe weather in the Chicago area on August 4 left nearly a half million residents without power, spawned at least three tornadoes and prompted travelers at O’Hare International Airport to be evacuated to lower levels, and a sell-out crowd at Wrigley Field to seek shelter in interior concourses. Nearly 350 flights were cancelled at O’Hare.
- Wildfires scorched parts of 12 states in August, primarily in the northwestern United States. From January 1 – August 29, 64,034 wildfires have burned more than 4.5 million acres of the United States, according to statistics from the National Interagency Fire Center. While the number of fires was above the 1999-2008 average, the acreage burnt was approximately one million acres less than average for the year-to-date.
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.
If that’s the case, look at the United States Climate Summary for August. Put the paramiters year to date 2000 through 2008 let them explain it. See for yourselves.
Looking at the official NCAR records from Boulder, I see maybe six out of the last thirty days made it up to the normal high temperature in the low-mid 80s.
http://www.eol.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/weather.cgi?fields=tdry&fields=rh&fields=cpres0&fields=wspd&fields=wdir&fields=raina&site=fl&units=english&period=monthly
Same for Fort Collins
http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/~autowx/fclwx_plotsearch.php?graph=1&span=30&station=FCLWX&year=2008&month=09&day=11&dimensions=2
Most days have been much below normal, which is obvious to anyone who has lived here for a while. NOAA can make all the press releases they want about the warm west, but that doesn’t help when it is cold outside.
I spent August in NJ this year, and it was exceptionally cool. Rural inland area in central Jersey.
Temps actually have come back to the cool time in the 60s/70s this year, and maybe a bit lower. Seriously, 19 days in August (remember, this is rural) night time lows were in the 50s, 3 days below 55! and of the remaining nights, there was only 2 that did not drop into the very low 60s. Well more than half the days had highs in the 70s, although I didn’t record them so I can’t be specific. No nineties. Highest high was 87.
The grass stopped growing in the second week. I only mowed once in August. I’m doing the last mow for the year now. Produce was very late this year, so it is not just that my grass is possessed with the will to be a climate denier.
The Alaskan Arctic was far below normal in August, just like Hansen’s models didn’t predict.
http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/Statewide/Aug_temp.jpg
It states the average. What is the standard deviation?
Without that information average is nearly useless, right?
These NOAA reports are worthless. I could get some high school kids and throw some worthless made up numbers togather. What a joke
39th hottest August….indeed LOL
Mike Bryant (16:03:54) :
There’s a good chance this data comes from a site worse than the typical USHCN site. As long as the site hasn’t changed much, the data is usable.
I don’t have time time, but it would be worthwhile to hunt down a few good monthly summaries. Newarks’s Aug 2008 is at http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=okx and says in part:
...THE NEWARK NJ CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2008...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1929 TO 2008
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S)
NORMAL
................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH 105 08/09/2001
LOW 45 08/29/1982
HIGHEST 91 08/01 MM MM 95 08/08
LOWEST 56 08/20 MM MM 57 08/21
AVG. MAXIMUM 83.4 83.2 0.2 83.4
AVG. MINIMUM 64.8 67.7 -2.9 67.2
MEAN 74.1 75.5 -1.4 75.3
DAYS MAX >= 90 2 6.9 -4.9 7
(I’m trying the <code> command for the first time here. It may fail badly.)
I expected to find a small range in the low and high temps, but it’s the opposite and Newark wound up 1.4F below average!
Trenton and Atlantic City are also below average! See
http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=phi
Something’s fishy. Maybe SIDC is taking over counting degrees. If they count ’em like sunspots…. (Sorry, cheap shot.)
Steven Hill (17:03:48) :
These NOAA reports are worthless. I could get some high school kids and throw some worthless made up numbers togather. What a joke
39th hottest August….indeed LOL
I agree! Surface temperatures are worthless for comparison and I think the same thing for CO2 data.
Grr. Playing with <code> . Anthony, I’d be glad to trade a certain NASA activist for a preview function.
WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S
VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S)
NORMAL
................................................................
AVG. MAXIMUM 83.4 83.2 0.2 83.4
AVG. MINIMUM 64.8 67.7 -2.9 67.2
MEAN 74.1 75.5 -1.4 75.3
DAYS MAX >= 90 2 6.9 -4.9 7
No blank lines above.
Grr. Playing with <code>.
Sigh. It compresses multiple spaces into one. Piece of something Jeez might snip.
If this was the 22nd warmest summer, it must give you new respect for your grandparents and great grandparents who never really had a summer, never got a crop into the bin and never got the garden produce into the storage room before the first frost.
Actually, it was like that in the early 1800s and 1880-1915. Why would we want to go back to that? Global warming is good.
My electric bill for August in central Illinois was the lowest for many years despite large increases in the cost of a KWH.
The following is an interesting article on global temperature measurement:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070315101129.htm
It was another cool summer here in the Texas Panhandle too. Second one in a row, I wonder why NOAA felt compelled to mention all of the places that were a little warmer than average and not places that are usually hotter than Hades, like Texas and Oklahoma, which have been unusally cool for the second year in a row?
Johnnyb, the cooler places do not fit the script.
“The average summer temperature of 72.7 degrees F is 0.8 degree F above the 20th century average, based on preliminary data. The average August temperature was 73.2 degrees F, which is 0.4 degree above average.”
This is the tranzi way, ladies and gentlemen. In order to hide individual results that do not conform to the agenda, they are dropped in and diluted by the rest of the results to come up with something more palatable. That is why things are always worded “warmest” when the focus on that is desired because of AGW, and it also why even in the winter months they will mention it was “X warmest” out of all winter months on record dating back to 1895. They will never say just cool. They will always make sure to mention warm. That is also how we can get increasing summer temperatures in this century despite the fact that the last century had the two warmest years (and warmest summers doubtless too) in the entire record. Those have to be diluted with much cooler years in different parts of the 20th century, no doubt properly “adjusted” to fit the trend, in order to appear warmer.
It would be more fitting to compare 2008 to the PDO Warm Period, 1977-2007, to get at truer feel for how 2008 truly ranks for trending purposes. But, then again, I would recommend using RSS and UAH at least WITH GISS. It would be interesting to see them for comparison’s sake.
But for me this reallys says it all:
“While temperatures in most western states were above normal in August, temperatures across much of the eastern half of the U.S. were below normal. Cooler temperatures in the east and warmer temperatures in the western U.S. contributed to a near average national residential energy consumption for August and the summer season.”
“Average.”
That about says it.
That would correspond to calculating the average phone number in the phone book. That is meaningless.
555-5555 . . . meaningless?
Este Frío Triste Agosto
Est[e] agosto
No me gusto,
Amiga mia
Hace tan fría!
Y menos húmedio
Qu[e] el promedio.
Yo lamento
Sin caliento . . .
¿Dónde la puedo
Conseguir ajustedo?
Wow, spanish poetry…
“last month ended as the 39th warmest August for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895″
Big deal! Everybody gets a damn trophy. Why, in my day, 39th place wouldn’t even have bought you an Honorable Mention!
Evan, Being from south Texas, I understood the poem perfectly. However, look what Babelfish did to it:
This Augusto I do not like, Amiga mine It does fries! I am sorry Without I warm up
I put my translation of the verse into babelfish and it spit this out:
No tengo gusto
De este agosto,
Mi novia es fría,
Lo siento
Que no hay calor…
Coming off the cooling of the beginning of the 20th century, and the ice age scare of the early 70s, and in the throes of high CO2 and global warming… 39th place just sounds a little funny…
Sea ice extent in the Arctic is up for the second day in a row…
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=3463#comment-296387
comment #526
See above for the nuevo y mejorado (“adjusted”) version.