April 2012: Earth's 5th warmest on record
April 2012 was the globe's 5th warmest April on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NASA rated April 2012 as the 4th warmest April on record. April 2012 global land temperatures were the 2nd warmest on record, and the Northern Hemisphere land surface temperature was 1.74°C (3.13°F) above the 20th century average, marking the warmest April since records began in 1880. Global ocean temperatures were the 11th warmest on record, and April 2012 was the 427th consecutive month with ocean temperatures warmer than the 20th century average. The last time the ocean temperatures were below average was September 1976. The increase in global temperatures relative to average compared to March 2012 (16th warmest March on record) was due, in part, to warming waters in the Eastern Pacific, due to the La Niña event that ended in April. Global satellite-measured temperatures for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were 6th or 4th warmest in the 34-year record, according to Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH). April temperatures in the stratosphere were the 1st to 4th coldest on record. We expect cold temperatures there due to the greenhouse effect and to destruction of ozone due to CFC pollution. Northern Hemisphere snow cover during April was 4th smallest in the 46-year record. Wunderground's weather historian, Christopher C. Burt, has a comprehensive post on the notable weather events of April in his April 2012 Global Weather Extremes Summary. Notably, national heat records (for warmest April temperature on record) occurred in the United States (a tie), Germany, Austria, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Hungry, Croatia, Ukraine, and Slovakia as well as the cities of Moscow and Munich.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for April 2012. The most notable extremes were the warmth observed across Russia, the United States, Alaska, and parts of the Middle East and eastern Europe. There were no land areas with large-scale cold conditions of note. Image credit: National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) .
La Niña officially ends
According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC), La Niña conditions are no longer present in the equatorial Pacific, where sea surface temperatures were approximately average as of May 13. The threshold for a La Niña is for these temperatures to be 0.5°C below average or cooler. CPC forecasts that neutral conditions will persist though the summer, with a 41% chance of an El Niño event developing in time for the August - September - October peak of hurricane season. El Niño conditions tend to decrease Atlantic hurricane activity, by increasing wind shear over the tropical Atlantic.
Figure 2. Arctic sea ice extent in 2012 (blue line) compared to the average (thick grey line.) The record low year of 2007 (dashed green line) is also shown. Arctic sea ice was near average during April, but has fallen well below average during the first half of May. Image credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
April Arctic sea ice extent near average
Arctic sea ice extent was near average in April 2012, the 17th lowest (18th greatest) extent in the 35-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). This was the largest April Arctic sea ice extent since 2001. However, ice in the Arctic is increasingly young, thin ice, which will make it easy for this year's ice to melt away to near-record low levels this summer, if warmer than average weather occurs in the Arctic.
Figure 2. Mt. St. Helens in Washington State erupting on May 18, 1980. Image credit: USGS.
Anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens
Today is the 32nd anniversary of the May 18th, 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State. To mark the occasion, NASA has put together a cool Landsat satellite time lapse of 32 years of regrowth of surrounding forest. The USGS has an extensive informational site on the eruption.
Video 1. In Grand Isle, Louisiana last week, a large waterspout came ashore as an EF-1 tornado. The tornado ripped the roof off of the house across the street from this videographer, who should have taken shelter instead of filming the destruction. There's one 4-letter word in the video. Thanks go to Andrew Freedman of Climate Central for posting this.
Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll be back Sunday or Monday with a new post.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 — Blog Index
30 knots of shear is no joke. That's just too much.
The GFS intensifies it into "Carlotta" and the NOGAPS begins to develop it in 144 hours.
Also very hostile conditions in the Gulf right now... The longer it stays unfavorable in there the more the chances of a below average season increase since the forecasts are banking on at least one or two storms forming there
I can remember the reverse contraflow on the Howard Frankland Bridge.
I can't help but laugh the irony here considering all the amateurs in this blog who criticize him, yet hear he is getting the NHC director position... Everyone in their own mind seems to be a better expert than the actual experts, lol...
Congrats to him, so, which one of you guys think you might get that position one day? hmm???
I'm not saying that means everything, but I'm pretty sure you don't get there for nothing.
Still expecting Code Orange again at 8PM.
I remember I was 12 years old during that even,t it was the first time a hurricane was approaching that I didn't want even at such a young age, actually I did want it until it rapidly intensified to category 4, now that scarred the poop out of me... lol
not increasing white is for increase
yh but it would be good if we get a system this early i think the eastern pacific is going in accordance to what levi was saying with the less favorable conditions in the pacific
We just went through this 6 hours ago...
Huh? He never said that. He said the East Pacific would be the favored basin for tropical development.
48
I an sick of doing this crap with you TropicalAnalystwx13
Whale Wars.
I root for the whalers and fishermen.
Idiot eco terrorists robbed the fisherman's net and set their catch free, and then complains when the company filed suit against them and they are impounded in port.
They deserved it.
Robbing a legitimate fisheries catch is basically the same thing as piracy.
That product is already wrong because it shows 35 knots of wind shear in the central Gulf of Mexico when there is 60 knots.
Just presenting the facts here, sorry if you don't like it.
I applaud "Acient Aliens" for daring to discuss many of these sites and bring out many unknown historical and archeological sites and mysteries.
However, I have caught them a few time mis-representing the facts about a particular site and refusing to make a retraction, of course the most notable one is Gobkeli Tepe and the claim of "no tools or bones" there, when in fact many tools or bones were found on the site. Although admittedly, only one "interviewee" made that claim, so she is not representative of the views of the programs authors.
As for other evidences that some ancient civilizations were ridiculously more advanced than mainstream text book history, rivaling modern technology in at least a few sub-sets of endeavour, I believe they have proven that beyond contestation, even if you don't agree with all of the details.
This included at least one modern professional stone cutter stating that even with modern tools, including lasers and stencils, he would not attempt to replicate the stone work for ANY amount of money, because "it would be too hard, and I'm not going to spend the rest of my life trying to do that."(paraphrase).
Stone working issues. Allegedly no written language and no wheel!!!
By the way, that one gives me the willies every time I watch it...
and
Claiming this as a hoax is inconceivably hard to believe, particularly at 7 minute mark forwards
listen to me levi said that like in 2002 this year is similar in pattern and in that yr the eastern pacific was less favorable i do not remember the Tibet but ask him but unlike last year the eastern pacific is much less active than the Atlantic in other words not just that we have had a storm form but the life of it suggests something the strength and the structure imo imagine there is not much wind shear and a system was unable to cross 50 mph i have been observing systems since 2002 i know what i am looking for dont argue try and research what i am saying
I love that show... Hands down my favorite show on TV... You do realize that not all the "catches" of marine life made are legitimate though right? I have no problem with legal, sustainable fishing but that's not what the "eco-terrorists" are protesting against.
correct one map shows m/s the other knots
Low moving away from shore in a more SE/ESE direction, very slowly.
I think we probably see 30% at 8PM but I wouldn't be surprised if it stays at 20%
Yeah, we had the emergency vehicles driving through my neighborhood, where I live is only 4 ft above sea level and most houses here are mobile homes, the emergency vehicles cycled through with loud speakers, it was scary, I knew we were in trouble then...
What was really scary, was that we fled to a condo in the Clearwater area, a really strong building in probably the highest elevation in Pinellas County, we felt safe till we went to the store and came back to find during the we were gone the hurricane was nearly a category 5, and was only at 2 when we left. We knew if it continued we would likely have a category 5 hurricane coming in, at that point we knew it didn't matter what building we were in, it was going to be hell if it kept heading our way. I was flat out scarred, all of us were. We knew we were going to be riding out a catastrophic event at that point if it continued our way.
true
yes
I hate poaching as much as the next guy, especially if it's threatening stable populations.
I also can't stand the way eco extremists ruin everything for other people either. A few days ago, a hydro project in S. America was shut down because the greens complained about it doing too much damage to the environment. What the heck else is anyone supposed to do, as Hydro is one of the cheapest, most productive forms of renewable energy.
30 Meters per Second = 58.31533477321814 Knots
I agree, I'm always amazed how they can pin down these devastating tornadoes outbreaks days before , but very seldom hurricanes or TSs , they're still working hard on forecasting these. Dr. Rick Knabb is a logical and reasonable man in my opinion, this is probably what earned him the position most! Just my take.
I think that is the conversion
Hey Baha... yeah it was extremely oppressive playing B-Ball at around 1pm-ish.
miss those storms... where are they? :(
Permaculture is pretty simple...
It's the idea that agriculture ought to be practised Vertically instead of Horizontally, basically.
Harvest from the tallest trees to the roots and tubers underground and everything in between including livestock and fish.
It's the way it "used" to be.
And it works.
Obviously.
I think
DIBS ;)
Could be. Shear is a tough one to predict however.
Viewing: 251 - 301
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 — Blog Index