Globe cools slightly in December 2010: 11th - 17th warmest on record
December 2010 was the globe's 17th warmest December on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies rated December 2010 the 11th warmest December on record. December 2010 global ocean temperatures were the 10th warmest on record, and land temperatures were the 30th warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were the 7th warmest on record, according to both Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH). The global cool-down from November, which was the warmest November on record for the globe, was due in large part to the on-going moderate strength La Niña episode in the Eastern Pacific. The large amount of cold water that upwells to the surface during a La Niña typically causes a substantial cool-down in global temperatures. Still, December 2010 temperatures were warm enough to make 2010 tied with 2005 as Earth's warmest year in history, as I reported in yesterday's post.
For those interested, NCDC has a page of notable weather highlights from December 2010.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for December 2010. Eastern Canada and Greenland were very warm, relative to average, and much of Siberia and Europe were abnormally cold. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).
An average December for the U.S.
For the contiguous U.S., December was near-average in temperature, ranking as the 44th coldest December in the 116-year record, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The year 2010 was the 23rd warmest on record. A strong "Arctic Oscillation" pattern allowed cold air to spill southward over the Southeast U.S., resulting in the coldest December on record in Florida and Georgia. Nine other states in the Southeast U.S. had top-ten coldest Decembers. Five states in the Southwest U.S. had top-ten warmest Decembers. A series of major snowstorms brought the 7th-largest December snow cover to the U.S. as a whole. December 2010 precipitation in the contiguous U.S. was also near average, ranking 54th driest in the 116-year record. Montana and Utah had their wettest Decembers on record, and six other states had top-ten wettest Decembers--Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon, Maine, and California. Six states had top-ten driest Decembers--Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, and Delaware.
La Niña in the "moderate" to "strong" category
The equatorial Eastern Pacific Ocean is currently experiencing moderate to strong La Niña conditions. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the tropical Eastern Pacific in the area 5°N - 5°S, 120°W - 170°W, also called the "Niña 3.4 region", were 1.5°C below average as of January 10, according to NOAA. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology put this number at 1.45°C below average (as of January 9.) Moderate La Niña conditions are defined as occurring when this number is 1.0°C - 1.5°C below average. Temperatures colder than 1.5°C below average qualify as strong La Niña conditions. NOAA is maintaining its La Niña advisory, and expects La Niña conditions to last through through spring.
Both El Niño and La Niña events have major impacts on regional and global weather patterns. La Niña typically causes warm, dry winters over the southern portion of the U.S., with cooler and wetter than average conditions over the Pacific Northwest. The Ohio and Mississippi Valleys states typically have wetter winters than usual during La Niña events.
December 2010 Arctic sea ice extent lowest on record
Northern Hemisphere sea ice extent in December 2010 was the lowest in the 31-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Ice volume in December was also the lowest on record for this time of year, according to University of Washington Polar Ice Center. At the end of December, the eastern portion of Canada's Hudson Bay remained unfrozen, the first time in recorded history that Hudson Bay has not been completely frozen over at the end of the year. The unusual amount of open water led to temperatures that averaged 20°C (36°F) above normal over a region larger than Texas during the first ten days of January.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Respectfully....I can assure you that any funds received by Portlight will go to established DPO's (Disabled Persons Organizations) with whom we have relationships and that those funds will be used to mitigate suffering of people with disabilities there. Sending supplies into Pakistan is a virtually insurmountable logistical challenge.
For the last 2 months, we are missing over half of our normal rainfall for the period:
(Would need more than 6 inches to catch up. Looking further back, in the last 6 months...missing a foot of rain, here. Maybe got an inch from that line and the stratiform, now ending.)
Its a shame that you consider anyone who shares a view other than that of which is highly secular and highly liberal to have their facts wrong and are completely "anti science".
Portlight does good work! Keep it up.
What's wrong with opinion?!
Not true
Hansen on Nuclear
The tire inflation thing comes from the 2005 Republican Energy bill.
You are wasting money and harming public safety if you don't keep your tires inflated.
There is much that can be done independent of AGW that would help address AGW (like, 50% of the US carbon emissions)
Thank you Professor Marvel. I just saw Margaret Hamilton out my window.
Sad thing is I agree with you on most issues. Your presentation and responses stink.
Was a Nasty Squall Line here.
If you believe that, then either I've miscommunicated or you've misunderstood. I'll have to try harder to convince you that that's not at all my approach. ;-)
Seriously, you'd perhaps be surprised to know that I wasn't always so liberal or secular; it was only after exposing myself to the world at large, reading in depth, traveling to many places, and spending times immersed in many cultures that I changed my guiding philosophies. But that doesn't mean that I automatically reject everything a religious conservative says or embrace everything a secular liberal says--I even sided with several decidedly non-liberal causes and candidates in November elections. It's just that, in my own personal experience, the latter group agrees with my thoughts far more often than does the former.
The funny thing is, the negative AO is now being blamed for the reduced arctic sea ice extent, when the climate projections say a positive AO will accomplish that. Furthermore, a negative AO results in a colder arctic and mid-latitudes (where the polar easterlies dominate) than a positive AO. A possible reason why it may not be doing so in the arctic during the last two years is because both major ocean multidecadal cycles (PDO and AMO) have been mostly positive in recent history, shoving lots of warm water into the high latitudes which has stalled sea ice growth, though it has not yet dipped lower than the 2007 record 30-year low.
Regardless, the defiance of the IPCC projections during the last 20 years in regards to arctic atmospheric pressure is quite significant.
University of Illinois IPCC Arctic GCM Scenarios
NOAA ESRL - NCEP Reanalysis
Climate Prediction Center
The IPCC does not carry out its own original research, nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself. A main activity of the IPCC is publishing special reports on topics relevant to the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ...
If the IPCC is like a clearinghouse for papers, maybe we should cite the papers and their authors, not the IPCC.
It did smell better prior. This place used to be much more interactive and tolerant before the new Sheriffs came to town :(
You mean like the "upside-down" Tiljander proxies retained in Mann 2008? Mann used this series in the opposite orientation to the orientation of the original studies.
Data that, when shown in it's proper orientation, still had a problem with recent calibration?
"...The SI showed that Mann et al were aware of Tiljander’s caveats but used the contaminated sediments (upside-down) anyway, thereby compromising the no-dendro reconstruction..."
A paper that was written by a respected scientist, went through peer-review, published in a respected journal, and still had a problem?
You mean data like that? Noticed first by a non-climatologist (with a degree in Math)?
http://climateaudit.org/2010/08/01/the-no-dendro-illusion/
Or was there some other item you think they got wrong?
You know, people might believe your side better if you put the same effort into examining papers on BOTH sides...
Aw really? That is sad...:(
I do try to keep an open mind. However, I'm not one to fill my mind with the majority opinion simply because it is the majority.
Excuse me.
Are you talking about real people or are you talking about legends in their own mind who can transmogrify such things into a singularity with ease.
Makes a difference ya know.
The IPCC publishes their AGW climate predictions and the global weather impacts based on their model projections. Therefore, they will be cited here.
Of course. But the OP had used the term "highly secular and highly liberal" (italics mine), so I merely echoed back the same. There are many shades and hues and tints on the American religious/political spectrum.
Nor should you. One should develop one’s beliefs through careful contemplation of both sides of an issue.
I count 72% of the time, that is not the case.
Just sayin, look back at how many people you chewed up and spit out in the last 100 posts you have made. Perhaps you need to be reminded, this is not your blog? Hummm, for that matter, several others also qualify, Ya think? :)
NASA Solar Cycle Prediction
If this prediction comes true, and it likely will given that the sun has been severely overestimated so far during SC24, it will not be very dissimilar to SC5, the first cycle of the Dalton Minimum in the early 1800s, when the sun went through a period of very low activity.
Solar Cycle #5: Solar Terrestrial Activity Report
No one knew what I knew at the moment it became known...
It was a singularity.
Space Weather Prediction Center
The only thing stopping people from building lots of nuclear power plants is that the economics of nuclear power production suck. Nobody will build them without massive federal subsidies. Actually, it's hard to find someone to build them even with massive federal subsidies.
500mb height anomalies for the last 30 days:
Pfffth
Now theres a new angle,
Will there be Chalkboards?
Yeah, I must be an oil-pumping conspiracy nut in my freshman year. No way I could just be a weather geek enjoying discussion of the issues, as I have been for the past 6 years here. I was still paid by the oil companies when I was 13 too. They sent me here to blog for them.
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