December 2009: 4th or 8th warmest December on record
The globe recorded its eighth warmest December since record keeping began in 1880, and 2009 tied with 2006 as the fifth warmest year on record, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies rated December 2009 as the 4th warmest December on record, and the year 2009 tied with 2007 as the second warmest year on record. NOAA rated December 2009 ocean temperatures as the 2nd warmest on record, next to 1997, and land temperatures as the 31st warmest on record. The anomalously cool conditions over much of northern Asian and North American land areas may be associated with the near record December snow cover extent over Northern Hemisphere land areas--2nd most on record, behind 1985. Snow cover records go back to 1967. The December global satellite-measured temperatures for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were the 7th warmest on record, according to the University of Alabama Huntsville and RSS data sets.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for December, 2009. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center.
One interesting note: the NASA global average temperature for 2009 was .57°C above average. NOAA's was .56°C above average. These temperatures were just .06°C below the all-time hottest year on record, 2005. The 11-year global sunspot cycle causes a variation of 0.1°C between the maximum and minimum of the solar cycle. We are currently at a deep minimum of the solar cycle, so we would have set a new global temperature record had we been at the maximum of the solar cycle. The other global temperature data set, the UK HadCRUT3 data, is not yet available for 2009. This data set is the one most often quoted by global warming skeptics, since it says that 1998 was the warmest year on record. However, HadCRUT3 fills in a huge area of missing data in the Arctic with the average temperature from the rest of the globe. This is bound to cause an underestimate of the global temperature, since the Arctic has warmed much more than the rest of the globe. The NASA and NOAA data sets fill in the missing data in the Arctic with data interpolated from the nearest stations in the Arctic, a procedure which is less likely to underestimate the global temperature.
December 2009: 14th coolest December on record for the U.S.
For the contiguous U.S., the average December temperature was 3.2°F below average, making it the 14th coolest December in the 115-year record, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The U.S. has been on quite a roller coaster of temperatures over the past three months--the nation recorded its third coldest October on record, followed by its third warmest November, followed by its 14th coolest December. The coolest December weather was in the Central U.S., where Nebraska had its eighth coolest December; Texas, Nevada, and Wyoming their ninth; and Montana and Utah their tenth coolest.
December 2009 was the 11th wettest December in U.S. history. It was a record wet month for Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland; 2nd wettest month on record for New Jersey; and the third wettest month on record for South Dakota, North Carolina, and Alabama. The Northwest U.S. was dry, with Washington experiencing its 11th driest December on record.
The year 2009: 35th warmest for the U.S.
For the entire year of 2009, it was the 35th warmest year in the contiguous U.S during the 115-year record. The coolest state was Nebraska, which had its 19th coolest year on record, and the warmest state was California, with its 16th warmest year on record. The driest state was Arizona, where 2009 ranked as the 4th driest year on record, while the wettest states were Illinois, Alabama, and Arkansas, who all had their 2nd wettest year on record.
U.S. tornado deaths: 2nd lowest on record
The year 2009 was below average for number of tornadoes, with a final tally around 1120 expected, compared to the 3-year average of 1297, according to the Storm Prediction Center. The 21 tornado deaths in 2009 was the 2nd lowest death toll in the 60-year record. Only 1986, with its 15 tornado deaths, saw fewer fatalities. The 60-year average annual death toll is 84.
U.S. drought
At the end of December, 6% of the contiguous United States was in severe-to-exceptional drought, which is well below average. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows no areas in the highest classification of drought--exceptional drought, and U.S. drought extent is close to its lowest value for the past ten years. The second highest category of drought, extreme drought, covers only a small region of northeast Arizona, and this will shrink over the remainder of January as much-needed rain falls across Arizona. About 43 percent of the contiguous United States had moderately-to-extremely wet conditions at the end of December, according to the Palmer Index (a well-known index that measures both drought intensity and wet spell intensity). This footprint is significantly larger than the long-term average.
Average U.S. fire activity in 2009
Significant fire activity occurred early in 2009, but wetter conditions across many parts of the nation as the year progressed, coupled with effective fire management, helped to restrain fire activity by mid-year. Despite the largest fire in Los Angeles County's (California) recorded history (Station fire), by the end of August the nationwide acreage burned by wildfire was very near the 2000 - 2009 average, and thereafter declined below average. Based upon data provided by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), fire activity in 2009 ranked fifth highest (sixth lowest) out of the past decade in terms of number of fires, about 1 percent below the 2000 - 2008 average. Acres burned in 2009 were 14.5 percent below the 2000 - 2008 average, ranking seventh highest (fourth lowest) since 2000. Average fire size also ranked seventh highest out of the 2000 - 2009 period, at about 14 percent below average.
Strong El Niño conditions continue
Strong El Niño conditions continue over the tropical Eastern Pacific. Ocean temperatures in the area 5°N - 5°S, 120°W - 170°W, also called the "Niña 3.4 region", were at 1.6°C above average on January 10, just above the 1.5°C threshold for a strong El Niño, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The strength of El Niño has been roughly constant for the 9 weeks ending January 10. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center is maintaining an El Niño Advisory. Most of the El Niño models forecast that El Niño has peaked and will gradually weaken. Most of the models predict that El Niño conditions will last into early summer, but cross the threshold into neutral territory by the height of hurricane season.
December sea ice extent in the Arctic 4th lowest on record
December 2009 Northern Hemisphere sea ice extent was the 4th lowest since satellite measurements began in 1979 and slightly below December 2008 levels, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Only 2005, 2006, and 2007 saw lower December arctic sea ice extent. The weather pattern over the Arctic in December 2009 featured a strongly negative Arctic Oscillation (AO). This pattern tends to slow the winds that typically flush large amounts of sea ice out of the Arctic between Greenland and Iceland. In this way, a negative AO could help retain some the second- and third-year ice through the winter, and potentially rebuild some of the older, multi-year ice that has been lost over the past few years. However, the AO has increased significantly in January, and it is unclear what the net effect of the AO on sea ice transported out of the Arctic this winter will be.
Next post
I'm at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Atlanta, Georgia, and will be making my next post from Atlanta on Tuesday.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Thank you :) But i didn't said that and glover neither.
Glover compared the scale and devastation of the 2010 Haiti earthquake to the predicament other island nations may face as a result of the failed Copenhagen summit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Glover
what exactly does your name on here mean?
I was looking for the link that shows that there is a rumour of the earthquake being linked to global warming/climate change. Not that I nessecarily agree with any such statements, but was just curious enough to want to take a look myself.
oh ok, I dont know where
yeah it has been nice (40 degrees instead of 10!) haha
Faliure is right. This shows that the world leaders simply cannot cooperate on this issue, and because there was mistrust now all they can do is blame each other. Link
oh ok,thanks
dang, must be nice. the warmest we've had since Christmas Eve is 41
Speaking of warm, our first major snowfall of the season here in S. Ontario at my location, was on January 3, 2010. Usually such a snowfall event would occur in December, often more than once, and sometimes in late November. Toronto Pearson recorded less than 30 cm (1 ft) of snow so far all season, and the previous record for the least total snowfall accumalations there by this time of year was 52 cm, set in 1952-53. Currently, the temperature is slightly above freezing.
By the way, does anyone have the link to the AO prediction graphs? I recall seeing that it will dip again to near-off-the-charts levels by early February and set in for another Arctic blast in N. America.
Today, a major flooding event occured in Southern Israel after a cold front brought in the end of a major winter heat wave in the coastal Mediterranean Middle East. A few weeks ago, the continuous storms in Europe sparked flooding in Southeastern Europe. Currently, flooding is also occuring in Egypt and a riverboat overturned on the Nile, and normally the flooding cycle there starts in August.
The weather for you has been odd this year, as has the record cold outbreak in Florida and other parts of the South
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Not to mention the time when I saw about 130 geese flying south on November 28 and about 35 geese flying back north on December 11. By mid-November, there were still dandelions, caterpillers, earthworms, houseflies, and mosquitoes in my area.
Flurries hit southeast Australia as towns record their first-ever summer snowfalls
By Rod Mcguirk (CP) – 17 hours ago
really? wow, it was certainly colder than that here, and I'm a lot farther south. there were a few cities in my area that had top 5 coldest starts to a year ever, and the most consecutive days below freezing
I haven't been tracking the GFS forecasts very closely, but this one shows a massive derecho from the northern Caribbean sea to Newfoundland after passing though Florida. Bad news for Haiti as well. However, the GFS forecasts could be a little bit "whack", see post 596.
cold for sure, we were below freezing for 13 straight days.
To the folks in the central US, below freezing is cold, but here it's unusual to be above freezing for several days in winter. Persistant low pressure systems since late November have dumped cold Arctic air into the US Midwest and south, while the warm air circulated up the east coast and into S. Ontario. Again, Toronto Pearson Airport has recorded half of the previous record low snowfall by this time of year.
I'm blaming the flurries that fell in the summer :P
55 PM PST MON JAN 18 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0330 PM FLASH FLOOD ALTADENA 34.19N 118.14W
01/18/2010 LOS ANGELES CA BROADCAST MEDIA
DEBRIS AND WATER OVER CANYON CREST ROAD NEAR THE BRIDGE
BELOW MILLARD CANYON. SEVERAL CARS TRAPPED.
0230 PM FLASH FLOOD VAN NUYS 34.18N 118.45W
01/18/2010 LOS ANGELES CA FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
SEPULVEDA BASIN AND BALBOA BLVD - STREETS FLOODED AND
PEOPLE RESCUED FROM THE TOPS OF THEIR VEHICLES.
0230 PM NON-TSTM WND DMG WOODLAND HILLS 34.17N 118.59W
01/18/2010 LOS ANGELES CA BROADCAST MEDIA
LARGE TREE BLOWN DOWN
&&
$$
BOLDT
0930 AM NON-TSTM WND DMG 5 W FRAZIER PARK 34.82N 119.03W
01/18/2010 KERN CA BROADCAST MEDIA
*** 1 FATAL *** A 21 YEAR OLD MAN WAS KILLED TODAY AT THE
PINE MOUNTAIN CLUB. DUE TO STRONG WINDS OF 85 MPH WHICH
KNOCKED DOWN A TREE THAT FELL INTO THE MAN.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY CA
516 PM PST MON JAN 18 2010
Looks like Kern got slammed with 90mph winds
Goodnight!
Region:
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Geographic coordinates:8.977S, 158.132E
Magnitude:5.5 Mb
Depth:52 km
Universal Time (UTC):19 Jan 2010 00:17:50
Time near the Epicenter: 19 Jan 2010 11:17:50
Location with respect to nearby cities:
143 km (89 miles) SW (224 degrees) of Dadali, Solomon Islands
171 km (106 miles) SE (125 degrees) of Gizo, Solomon Islands
207 km (128 miles) WNW (285 degrees) of HONIARA, Solomon Islands
1201 km (746 miles) E (88 degrees) of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea
Region:
SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
Geographic coordinates: 12.479S, 166.171E
Magnitude:5.7 Mw
Depth:10 km
Universal Time (UTC):18 Jan 2010 16:09:15
Time near the Epicenter: 19 Jan 2010 03:09:15
Location with respect to nearby cities:
355 km (221 miles) NNW (343 degrees) of Santo (Luganville), Vanuatu
629 km (391 miles) NNW (338 degrees) of PORT-VILA, Vanuatu
2097 km (1303 miles) E (101 degrees) of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea
Guatemala earthquake has not caused any ravaging.
Oh MAN!
here's the last time I had them link
NWS Indianapolis Doppler Radar Detects Cars on Highways
Due to current atmospheric conditions, the Indianapolis Doppler Radar is detecting cars on area highways tonight as the radar beam is ducted back toward the ground. In the following image, the brighter colors in the white boxes along the mapped interstates indicate higher returned velocities, approximately those of groups of cars traveling at highway speeds.
That's a pretty cool grab, td.
Thanks!
no problem!
Thanks tdude
I'm confused? sorry :p
Sorry - I was reading your earlier link to how rumors get started.
I'm afraid my speed and the blog speed are not in sync.
oh ok, yeah, I thought I'd add my thoughts :P
Don't you have a thesis to write?
(Uh-oh! the bad gramma emerges, laying on a guilt trip)
P.S. Thesis about what?
haha I did it already :)
and it was for my english class. we had to recall a "scary story" that happened in our lives, so I had to make an outline and thesis for it
What level ENC class is it, TD?
oh its just 106, composition, everyone has to take it at Purdue if you didnt take a comp class in high school
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