Hmmm, “the pause” seems to be stronger in the USA. Compare these two years.
In 2012, the contiguous United States (CONUS) average annual temperature of 55.3°F
In 2013, the contiguous United States (CONUS) average temperature of 52.4°F
Looks like California is in the minority, mostly due to the extended La Niña pattern:
![201301-201312[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/201301-2013121.gif)
Of course they are still on about severe weather, no room for “normal” in this scary looking graphic, apparently:
In 2013, the contiguous United States (CONUS) average temperature of 52.4°F was 0.3°F above the 20th century average, and tied with 1980 as the 37th warmest year in the 119-year period of record. The 2013 annual temperature marked the coolest year for the nation since 2009. The 2013 CONUS average temperature was 2.9°F cooler than the 2012 average temperature, which was the warmest year on record for the nation. Since 1895, when national temperature records began, the CONUS has observed a long-term temperature increase of about 0.13°F per decade. Precipitation averaged across the CONUS in 2013 was 31.17 inches, 2.03 inches above the 20th century average. This marked the 21st wettest year on record for the nation and the wettest since 2009. Compared to 2012, which was the 18th driest year on record, the CONUS was 4.50 inches wetter in 2013. Over the 119-year period of record, precipitation across the CONUS increased at an average rate of 0.17 inch per decade.
h/t to Tom Nelson
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M Courtney says: @ur momisugly January 16, 2014 at 12:15 pm
…. But their seems to be no part of the contiguous United States that isn’t suffering some extreme.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
North Carolina had a lovely year. It was not hot, only three days of 90°F (32°C) and one @ur momisugly 91° F and one @ur momisugly 95°F (95°C) We also had no drought and my grass and white clover stayed green all summer. (“Wet” does not mean floods) However it was a bit chilly breaking record low minimums.
So, let’s see if I got this right … the 20th century average temperature for the 48 contiguous states was 52.1°F, and the average temperature for the year 2013 was 0.3°F above that average, at 52.4°F. Wow!! It’s enough to make a person get soaked in sweat.
Wait … was that 0.30°F or was it 0.32°F or maybe 0.34°F warmer. Nothing impresses like an increasing number of digits displayed after the decimal point. Maybe it was 0.30715°F warmer … now that’s really looking impressive!!
Again the normal-vs.-average confusion: No one can say what “normal” weather is, since such a figure can’t be arrived at by experiment or observation or be decided upon by other factors. We know that normal human body temperature under certain conditions is 98.6 degrees F; we know that normal eyesight has been defined as 20/20; and there are other examples. But there is no normal weather or temperature, since it is a chaotic system, all of whose variables as yet cannot be known. All we have is average: the accumulated statistics (un-doctored, please!) from as long as they have been compiled, averaged over the number of years of the record (not just the selected 30 years, please!). We can certainly rank the periods under discussion if the records are substantially complete; but we cannot tell which, if any, of the periods is the “normal” one, because we are in no position to set a norm. Average is the correct, and justifiable, terminology.
All that said, 2013 in Virginia was a cool, wet year, with about 10″ above average rainfall, no long periods of 90-degree highs (and only a few in all), and an early and chilly fall. On the whole, a pleasant year, though much harder to work outside during it–too wet, much of the time.
no room for “normal”
———–
Well said, Anthony.
Kind of curious, too.
Uh Oh!
Maybe all those CGAW alarmist should take off those gas mask to sequester their own CO2 emissions for a month or two.
Are you sure NOAA didn’t just use the last election map for that graphic? I mean, it might as well be showing left vs. right… where the farther left a state is the redder it is.
Maybe that incredible excessive heat is what is disrupting their thought processes.
spring 2012 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/national/Statewidetrank/ann/201203-201205.gif?opt=ann/
spring 2013 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/national/Statewidetrank/201303-201305.gif
January Rain?
None for California
Domacles’s Spring.
http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/cmb/sotc/drought/2013/13/ca-Reg004Dv00_Elem01dep_01121213.gif
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9IIrBCUsRhIdXlQY0pLdzdkdTJDSmY3M3NHQlp1ZHNCaUVj/edit?usp=sharing
About 18 (?) months ago a WUWT thread dwelt on the choice by one of out govt. climate agencies to count “unusually mild” winters and summers as “extreme,” by which standard “extreme whether” is increasing, which is a form of equivocation, IMO.
And how did they arrive at this measure? In Vermont where our temperatures were ranked above average the Primary Local Climatological Data Site is BTV – Burlington International Airport. The thermometer sits on the end of a runway next to an expanding urban heat island surrounding the airport. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/locations.php?wfo=btv
jbird says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:47 pm
“…the 37th warmest year in the 119-year period of record.”
That’s quite a record – 37th. warmest! One wonders if (by 2016) we might be experiencing the 120th. “warmest” year in 121 years.
———————————————-
I share the same sentiment. My best guess is the 3rd winter, 2016/17.
Yeah but the US is only like 1% OF THE earths surface.
Remember that warm spot over Russia….
timetochooseagain says:
January 16, 2014 at 1:48 pm
This represents the largest drop of 12 month average temps from the previous 12 month average since the 1930′s. I constructed this chart last month:
—————————————————————————–
That graph shows great detail. Look at the phase changes it shows from one end to the other. From the early 40s till just past the mid 70s the climate registers as very stable. Then in the early 70s, the graph shows wider variations from year to year in temperature swings. This changes around 9 to10 years later and then both mini cycles repeat themselves again. You can see the very same set of minicycles prior to the early 40s period. What is causing that?
Needed: Extreme Average records.
The Rex Block has been incredibly persistent. The foot print is obvious, look at the map.
Jetstream on January 21 Northern Hemisphere. See the from where the air reach the Great Lakes in the U.S..
http://earth.nullschool.net/jp/#2014/01/21/0600Z/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=-342.75,96.57,319
I saw a comment about Australia & our heatwave and it reminded me of our poetry and the works of Henry Lawson etc. There’s always been heatwaves and bushfires which gave inspiration to our outbreak poets.
As for birds dying, it’s the bats or flying foxes which have been dying, 100,000+ but there are literally millions!
Also, I went out & photographed the king tide couple of weeks ago. No sea level change here. Hervey Bay Queensland is in fine shape.
I have always been a AGW sceptic (English, and therefore correct, spelling) because I’m a pragmatist. I never had to be any kind of scientist to figure the thing out thus:
The planet has been here for millions of years, and man has been on the planet for a tiny fraction of that time. Furthermore, man has been recording and taking notice of the climate for a brief finger snap of that tiny fraction. Suddenly, people calling themselves climatologists are claiming that they can see trends in the world climate? Worse, the perceived culprit is a naturally occurring gas which is essential to the survival of every green growing thing in the world; and therefore essential to life itself!
I won’t ask who are they kidding, because they appear to be successfully kidding the majority of us. But not me.
I wonder what it’s like to live your life in fear of weather.
Paul@herveybay says:
January 17, 2014 at 12:20 am
————————————–
Edgar Rice Burroughs set one of his ‘Tarzan’ series in Australia, if I remember right. In the story all of the natural forces of Australia come into play, a huge rolling flood crossing a plain, bushfires, and an extreme heat event.
Not according to Britisher Fowler’s classic Modern English Usage :
(I have to post the above every four months or so.)
rogerknights:
At January 17, 2014 at 3:11 pm you say
Really? Who is pointing the gun at you?
I would inform the police if that was happening to me.
Richard
I never correct anyone who just spells the word as “Sceptic”; that’s natural in many countries. I only do so to counter posters who claim their spelling is the correct one, as above, because that challenging (and misleading) statement invites a rebuttal.
All I know its been unseasonably cold here in North Texas.
@goldminor-I have no idea, presumably it’s a natural phenomenon, though.