The September 2009 average temperature for the contiguous United States was above the long-term average, according to NOAA’s monthly State of the Climate report issued today. Based on records going back to 1895, the monthly National Climatic Data Center analysis is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides.
The average September temperature of 66.4 degrees F was 1.0 degree F above the 20th Century average. Precipitation across the contiguous United States in September averaged 2.48 inches, exactly the 1901-2000 average.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
U.S. Temperature Highlights
- Below-normal temperatures across parts of the south and Northeast were offset by record high values in the West and above normal temperatures in the Northwest and northern tier states resulting in a higher average temperature for the contiguous United States.
- Both California and Nevada experienced their warmest September of the 115-year record. Additionally Montana and North Dakota posted their third warmest, Idaho its fourth warmest, Utah fifth warmest, Minnesota sixth warmest, and Oregon registered its eighth warmest.
- On a regional level, the West experienced its warmest September on record. The Northwest and West North Central experienced their sixth and eleventh warmest such periods. Below-normal temperatures were recorded in the South and Northeast.
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
U.S. Precipitation Highlights
- While precipitation equaled the long-term average for the contiguous U.S., regional amounts varied widely. The South experienced its sixth-wettest September, which was countered by the sixth-driest period around the Great Lakes and upper Midwest region.
- Arkansas registered its second wettest September, Tennessee its fifth, with Mississippi and Alabama posting their sixth wettest on record. Despite notable and flood-producing rains in northern Georgia, drier conditions near the coast kept the state’s overall average out of the top ten.
- Maine and Wisconsin each experienced their fourth driest September and both New Hampshire and Michigan had their seventh driest such periods.
- By the end of September, moderate-to-exceptional drought covered 15 percent of the contiguous United States, based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought intensified in the Upper Midwest and eastern Carolinas, while remaining entrenched in much of the West. Drought conditions remain severe in south Texas, despite some improvement.
Other Highlights
- During September, 5,535 fires burned approximately 378,523 acres — both were below the 2000-2009 average for the month. The acreage burned by wildfires was roughly half of the 2000-2009 average. For the January-September period, 70,217 fires were reported, which is slightly above the 10-year average, while acreage burned is slightly less than average.
NCDC’s preliminary reports, which assess the current state of the climate, are released soon after the end of each month. These analyses are based on preliminary data, which are subject to revision. Additional quality control is applied to the data when late reports are received several weeks after the end of the month and as increased scientific methods improve NCDC’s processing algorithms.
Scientists, researchers, and leaders in government and industry use NCDC’s monthly reports to help track trends and other changes in the world’s climate. The data have a wide range of practical uses, from helping farmers know what to plant, to guiding resource managers with critical decisions about water, energy and other vital assets.
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.
Douglas DC (07:16:34) : Good your observations. This we must not see it as an usual PDO or Nino/Nina. Look in UNISIS graph the sea temperature in front of Ecuador, at the equatorial line, colder than the rest. Then watch that both sides (east and west coasts) of the south pacific are cold. Save charts, these will be remembered the typical ones of a LIA beginning. I think we will miss NOAA´s oranges and reds in the years to come.
If you bring up the temp map in a separate window/tab and then replace the 0909 in the address with 0809, you can go back and forth between the two to see the changes between August and September.
I don’t know why the June and July one can’t be brought up in the same manner. It would be nice to see an animated version through the months.
Yep. September in Manitoba was pretty much as they describe. However, June, July and August were very wet and very chilly. Many crops did not get planted and many that did failed to germinate. There would have been virtually no crops if September hadn’t been so warm. Also, it was the first time on record that September was warmer for the year than June, July or August.
Finally we had 15 cm of snow this past weekend for Canadian Thanksgiving.
So depite talk of AGW, the Canadian West is still next year country, not becuase of drought or heat, but because of frost and cold.
Calendar months are a human invention with issues for evaluating data, whether sales or temperature. There is a reason accounting months are even periods (454,445, etc.) — so the data for a quarter can be more accurately understood. Although it makes great news releases (“Hottest July ever!”), the use of calendar months to extract meaningful information is shaky.
I don’t think that the map tells the whole story.
In Northern Wisconsin it was warmer than normal for about HALF of September. The beginning of the month was still cold, and it brought frost (actually a hard freeze at 26-27ºF) two weeks earlier than normal. Then we had a couple of warm weeks, then the bottom fell out. I don’t think it is worth a lot of drama that the jet stream finally swung north for a couple of weeks after our abnormally cold summer spent mostly north of it.
We are paying the price now, we had an inch of snow yesterday, the first time since the early 1900s. Monday our normal high was 57, we barely hit 33. We probably won’t get within 8-10 degrees of our normal high for another week.
The 22 days without rainfall in Sept isn’t abnormal either in the context of a summer that was down 35% from averages and frequently included periods of several weeks without rain. It is also the third summer in a row like that. Believe me, I know. Part of my income comes from the whitewater river a mile down the road. The past few summers it was more suitable for a geology class than rafting or kayaking.
The point? I don’t think that the map gives an accurate portrayal or the real story. The real story is that we spent the last 10 months at the lower end of our climate norms for both temperature and precip, with or without the two warm weeks in September.
In case it hasn’t been mentined elsewhere, Winniped, Manitoba, Canada had the largest snowfall since 1872 on Sat/Sun. The majority of southern BC had record lows of between -5deg C and -10 deg C…quite unheard of this early in the fall.
We had a wet spring and summer – in our semi-arid area, we had mushrooms in our yard! It was cool all summer – with “anemic” tomatoes. Local weather person called it “the summer that wasn’t”. Along comes October and it is absolutely frigid. We were scheduled to have our irrigation system winterized on 15-Oct our normal date for doing this – but last weekend we had temps in the teens and highs only in the 20s! Now, instead of winterizing the irrigation system we are also having it repaired since we came home to a busted exterior pipe that was spewing water.
In southeast Michigan the temperature so far for October has been 5-10 degrees F colder than average. There has also been more rain than usual. The grass loves it.
Two years ago my wife and I took a fall color trip to Traverse City at this time in October. Well there was no color because the trees hadn’t changed yet. But it was warm enough to spend a few days at the beach. We actually went swimming in the Grand Traverse bay on Oct 10. This year the high temperature on the 10th was 50F. So I don’t think I’d try swimming there now.
Funny, I live in Tennessee…and they listed us as a ‘normal’ month. I know we had several days of +5 deg. F temperatures..so I was expecting an above normal rating for the month. Of course, Tennessee is 400+ miles long and I live in one little area, so I can’t speak for the rest of the state
BTW It seems many of today’s posters are reporting colder temps in North America. But I notice the DMI Arctic temp is warmer than average. Could it be that winds are blowing cold air from the Arctic down toward us and replacing the Arctic air with warmer air from the south?
Dammit! Stupid California. Not only can’t we balance our state budget, but now we get the blame for causing Global Warming in the US in Sept of 2009.
God I hate this state!
Idaho may have had its fourth warmest Sept. ( don’t know for sure , as I didn’t get out here until the last week ) , but we’re making up for it now . Two weeks ago it was almost 80 on a Monday and snowing on Wed . BTW , after being away for five months , I checked my thermometer for the high and low temps : 91 high , 28 low . Seems pretty average to me .
I forgot to ask in the above post – How can they claim that the temp was above average for the whole US when thirty four of the lower forty eight states had average or below average temps ?
I call lies.
From my electricity bill:
Average Temperature 64F 67F
the first # is this year… the second is last year.
I think everyone should check
There is definitely some creative data processing going on in there. Is the source data and methods published somewhere to be verified?
How about analysis of the summer as a period? This must have been one of the coldest summers on record. In Pennsylvania we were 5 to 10 degrees below normal routinely. We hit 90 only a few days. Normally we have 30 or more 90 degree days in summer. We went from the last frost warning on May 14 to first frost warning on October 13. A whole 5 months of spring, summer and fall! That leaves us with 7 months of winter and associated heating expenses, not to mention slowing economic activity. My friend is a concrete contractor and he doesn’t know how he will make it through the winter.
RE: n the SF Bay Area, we definately had a warm September.
Which is normal. We always have our warmest days in September. But compared with the previous 44 Septembers, it was nothing to write home about.
Well that happens sometimes; sometimes it’s above average, and sometimes it’s below average; but on average it’s about average; and generally on average, absolutely nothing untoward is happening.
And my tax dollars go into reporting that on average things are about average.
Whoopee !
Confirms what I thought all along: This year has been significantly cooler than last year. There is, after all, at least a full degree of upward bias in the surface temperature number, from what I’ve been able to gather on here and by looking at my local weather high/lows.