NOAA SAYS U.S. WINTER TEMPERATURE NEAR AVERAGE
Global December-February Temperature Warmest on Record
The
December 2006-February 2007 U.S. winter season had an overall temperature
that was near average, according to scientists at NOAA’s National
Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Precipitation was above average
in much of the center of the nation, while large sections of the East,
Southeast, and West were drier than average. The global average temperature
was the warmest on record for the December-February period.
U.S.
Temperature Highlights
- Upper-level wind
patterns brought unusually cold weather to the southern Plains and
much of the West in January. Snow and ice extended as far south as
Arizona, southern California and south Texas. More typical winter
conditions finally arrived in the eastern United States by late January
and a period of colder-than-normal temperatures persisted through
President’s Day weekend.
- February was
1.8°F (0.9°C) below the 20th century average of 34.7°F
(1.5°C), placing it in the top third coldest Februarys in the
113-year record for the contiguous U.S. Thirty-six states in the eastern
two-thirds of the nation were cooler than average, while Texas and
the eleven states of the West were near average to warmer-than-average.
-
The
warmer-than-average winter temperatures in the Midwest and East
helped reduce residential energy needs for the nation. Using the
Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index (REDTI - an index developed
at NOAA to relate energy usage to climate), the nation's residential
energy demand was approximately three percent lower than what would
have occurred under average climate conditions for the season.
-
Seasonal
energy demand would have been even lower, if not for February’s
colder temperatures. For the month, temperature-related residential
energy demand was approximately six percent higher than what would
have occurred under average climate conditions for February.
- For Alaska, both
February (1.4° F/0.8°C) and winter (1.6° F/0.9°C)
were warmer than average, but far from the record warmth of 2003 and
2001, respectively.
U.S.
Precipitation Highlights
-
Several
snow storms hit the Plains, Midwest, and Northeast in February.
One storm struck the Mid-Atlantic and New England Feb. 14 and 15,
and brought more than 20 inches of snow to widespread sections of
the interior Northeast. This event was preceded by a 10-day lake
effect storm that dumped more than 100 inches of snow on New York’s
Tug Hill Plateau. A total of 141 inches was reported at Redfield
in Oswego County.
-
Beneficial snows fell in the Sierras of California and the Great
Basin Ranges in late February and early March, but the overall winter
remained much drier than average. For all but the Northern Cascades
and the Front Range of the Rockies in Colorado and New Mexico, seasonal
snowpack was below average at the end of February.
-
Winter was drier than average from the Deep South to Kentucky, the
Mid-Atlantic, and along the Northeast Seaboard states. Much of the
West was also drier than average. For February, precipitation was
below average in the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest regions.
-
At the end of February, water-year precipitation in Los Angeles
was the lowest on record, less than 25 percent of normal. According
to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 25 percent of the continental U.S.
was in moderate-to-exceptional drought at the end of February. The
most severe conditions were in southwest Texas, northern Minnesota,
Wyoming and the western High Plains.
-
The
combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the sixth
warmest on record in February, but a record warm January helped
push the winter (December-February) to its highest value since records
began in 1880 (1.30°F/0.72°C above the 20th century mean).
El Niño conditions contributed to the season’s record
warmth, but the episode rapidly weakened in February, as ocean temperatures
in the central equatorial Pacific cooled more than 0.5°F/0.3°C
and were near average for the month.
-
Separately, the global December-February land-surface temperature
was the warmest on record, while the ocean-surface temperature tied
for second warmest in the 128-year period of record, approximately
0.1°F (0.06°C) cooler than the record established during
the very strong El Niño episode of 1997-1998.
-
During the past century, global surface temperatures have increased
at a rate near 0.11º F (0.06º C) per decade, but the rate
of increase has been three times larger since 1976, or 0.32ºF
(0.18ºC) per decade, with some of the largest temperature increases
occurring in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.
NOAA
is celebrating 200
years of science and service to the nation in 2007. From the establishment
of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation
of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the
1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. NOAA
is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events
and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing
environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.
Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries
and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network
that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
Note
to Editors: More complete information, including links to data, graphics
and analysis, is online at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2007/feb/feb07.html
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