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.
0.8F = 0.44C. This is a very low result and could almost be -ve if you factor UHI effects.
Since 2000 I’ve seen records in this region (Sydney) for both max and min temps in many months of those years. During the middle of last winter we had one of the biggest frosts I’ve seen in 30 years as temps went way -ve and Jan 1 2005 saw temps go to 113F (45C) across most of Sydney.
This winter was cooler than average and record low temps were recorded in many parts of the state. Coincidently, Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals and Usane Bolt ran 100m in 9.69s at the Beijing Olympics. This all means nothing except that father time is the best creator of records and always will be. The current obsession with global events and records is ridiculous but is expected given the hype and emotion that surrounds AGW and the fact that we’re all looking for immediate answers to questions that simply cannot be answered for perhaps another 20 – 40 years.
gringos: what are you doing with our language??? where have yor learn spanish??????? in florida with jeb bush??? arrrghhh!!!!!!
please!!! and it is no spanish it is “castellano” (castilian) because in spain there is also the basque language, the catalâ, the galeigo,
and sorry in castellano, yours “verses” don’t make sense…
But they understand me perfectly in South (con Dios) Texas . . . #B^1
It is a fine example of the Mexifornia-Texican dialect.
That is not true for Northern California. I am beginning to suspect that NOAA is nothing more than a Political Science arm for the currently popular Washington opinion which is the only one that counts (yes, there’s an intended double entendre there).
This game can be played both ways. For Portland OR August was the 28th warmest in 135 years, on the other hand April was the 9th coldest in 135 years. Meanwhile compared with the first eight months of the previous 134 years January to August of this year was the 65th warmest (or 69th coldest depending on your point of view) putting this year right smack in the middle of the average temperatures for the last 135 years; nothing to put out a press release over.
Nosotros gringos stupidos
Del Estados Unidos,
Usted nos debe perdonar
Nosotros no lo podemos ayudar . . .
Nosotros gringos estúpidos
de los Estados Unidos,
usted nos debe perdonar
nosotros no lo podemos evitar…
perdonados
¡¡¡pero que no se repita!!!!
[Har! Har! ~ E]
Just wait until Sept. 19.
The Smokester informs me that is “International Talk Like a Pirate Day”.
http://www.talklikeapirate.com
To speak another language is to possess another soul — Charles V
Arrrr . . .
You fine Americans, could some of you tell:
Ive heard many complaints about failing crops due to cold.
A 39´th warmest august should not be a year of exceptionale crop failure due to cold, should it?
So, does anyone know, How widespread is this cropfailure, is it just local or does it have a bigger magnitude? What is the picture?
Plants cannot lie..
But they can shade the truth . . .
Actually, “39th warmest” is a polite way of saying, “WTF? It’s freakin’ colder than last year!”
Considering that there was widespread crop failure last winter and the temperature anomaly since then has taken a dead-cat bounce, it’s not particularly surprising that there is a fair bit of crop failure going around. (I’ve heard US winter wheat could be headed for trouble.)
Ive used Nasa-link to ask something else of Nasa.
I want glasnost for giss data.
Its probably naive, but if some day Nasa felt a pressure to open all secrets?
***************
Dear Nasa.
I am a lecturer of astronomy and the origin of life. I have thus used your magnificent material to thrill and enlighten many people of all ages.
I ough you a big thanks for your sharing so much data with the whole world. This is in the good spirit of what science is al about.
For many reasons there are a fuss about the unusual secrecy which now rules when it comes to the global temperature datasets of GISS.
My “beloved” NASA is loosing its good name because of a worldwide rise of doubt about the GISS data set.
We have now seen J.Hansen approve of people in UK should cross the line of law, if its in the support of his ideas about global warming.
This obviously makes GISS data even more subject to discussion and speculation.
Heres my wish for you:
“Open all GISS data sources for the whole world.
Be focussed on doing so fast, only then will any problems in data be mostly connected with Hansen himself rather than Nasa.
Special interest there is in the reason and calculations of adjustments to GISS data.
Open all for the puplic, better late than never.”
– When Glasnost was introduced in the east block long ago, why should we then loose it in the west?
B.R. Frank Lansner
***************
Yes im naive, i know… 🙂
I wonder if there is any legal recourse if farmeres are using seeds sold by suppliers which base their decision on GHG models (global warming theory)?
Yes im naive, i know
Yeah, right. Around these here parts we call that “stickin’ it to ’em”. (Good show.)
Patrick Henry,
For our left-wing climate activists, there’s indeed a very cold wind blowing out of Alaska these days.
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The 39th warmest?
That’s a long way from where we’ve been earlier. I feel more and more that a cooling trend has taken hold. There are lots of data (and anecdotes) that would indicate this:
1. El Nino just doesn’t want to take hold.
2. Temperatures globally seem to be retreating.
3. Powerful ocean oscillations are shifting.
4. The sun is sleeping, i.e. I see a cyc. 23 speck today.
5. More and more scientists are open to cooling.
6. Light frosts are in the forecast here in Germany this weekend.
Yes, no. 6 is just an anecdote. But normally the first frost doesn’t come until mid October. This year we’ll firing up the furnace much earlier.
evan jones
“Actually, “39th warmest” is a polite way of saying, “WTF? It’s freakin’ colder than last year!”
You described it perfectly!
Don’t expect them to give up until they are forced to say something like “It was the 106th warmest month. My guess though is that they’ll stop this spin when we reach the 50th or 60th something warmest month.
August would be 4th warmest, but Hansen has been spending too much time out of the office.
While the cat of adjustment is away the mice of true science will play.
Every time he flies off to testify in England for Eco-terrorists, his desk is moved eighteen inches. Being an absent-minded scientist, he will not notice, even as his desk moves slowly down the hall back into the back room for janitorial supplies.
There are a lot of good people at NOAA and NASA who hate what they have had to live through.
Bern Bray:
Mr. Bray makes an excellent point. Why do they only list August among the warmest months? What if they said August was the 99th warmest months out of the past 100? That, of course, would actually indicate that August was a very cold month. But by ranking it only among warm months, propaganda spin is applied.
Any honest comparison would also list its place among the coolest months. If the NOAA did that, then everyone would see that August was pretty much average.
And Evan Jones gave everyone a heads-up/link on International Talk Like A Pirate Day [9/19]. For our Brit friends, there’s also a UK site: click. [O/T? R!]
Smokey (04:32:48) :
If they compared things to all months, the clueless would point out it’s always colder in January, and the semi-clueful would suggest that different times of the year have different weather patterns and one would expect different temperature ranges through the year.
The propagandic would note that the 22nd warmest August might be the 264th (12×22) warmest month on record. That isn’t scary enough.
Me, I’m hoping that one of our NJ readers look into how August can be their 8th warmest August despite the NWS reporting below average temps at Newark, Atlantic City, and Trenton.
“this year (is) right smack in the middle of the average temperatures for the last 135 years; nothing to put out a press release over.”
Maybe an average year IS newsworthy in a time of hyped warming.
Maybe all of NASA’s historic records need to be adjusted… Did you know we landed on the moon in 1957?
Mike Bryant (05:46:16) :
Maybe all of NASA’s historic records need to be adjusted… Did you know we landed on the moon in 1957?
1957 has been adjusted. It’s next year.
I’ve been doing some thinking – always dangerous with a mind turning toward elderly…
It strikes me that two events in NASA’s history compare markedly with the latest events including temperature adjusting and grandstanding by
major NASA figures.
The two events were the loss of the Challenger and Discovery shuttles.
According to my information, in each loss, people not fully in the loop were given authority to overrule those who knew what was going on. The pressures of meeting schedules and media attention were deemed more important than “minor” engineering ussues.
In both cases, NASA admitted culpibility in the loss, and vowed to correct the management and engineering issues. I believe the words used were “Change the management culture to allow opposing points of view to surface”.
Seems to me the effort has faded again, and the old autocracy is once again in full bloom. It is obvious that NASA is once again responding to media pressure and data juggling to present a “better than thou” face to the nation and the world.
I sincerely hope this is just in the climate section and hasn’t filtered over to the space organization again. We don’t need to lose more space pioneers to human foolishness.
But even if just the climate area is involved, human loss will result from the present direction. If the data points as many believe (and at this point we have to say the jury is still out) toward a cooling earth. The only difference is the human loss will not be announced with fireworks in the sky and thunderous explosions, but caskets in the morgue and sad silence.
NASA’s research does impact peoples’ lives, and a wrong direction due to data manipulation and stubbornness cannot be allowed.
My view is – if there is no clear direction, leave it be!
Mike
I’m not sure that I realy believe this. Where I am from (Alberta Canada just accross the boarder from you), it was a cool summer. There was lots of plesent weather, but only about a week of real warm weather.
I aggree with one of the previouse posters, that one you get past the 10 anything, way rank it. Recently someone stated that something was about the size of the Yukon, Canada’s 9th largest provence or terretory. Supprise… that is also the 5th smallest (the smallest non-tiny Atlantic provence) .
Anyway, by my calculations, August 2008 was the 74th coldest on the recorded history of the Earth. ((2008-1895)-39=74)
Let me say, up here in Ottawa, it’s been a cool, rainy summer. We normally have a couple of weeks over 30C, and I think we’ve had 3-4 days total ALL SUMMER above 30C. It’s been great for electricity usage, but not so good for the pool…:^)). About the only decent weather we had was in late August, which I guess is why they would cherry-pick that month….
Jim
If this was the 39th warmest, what was the 38th & the 40th warmest ?