18 May 2016

NOAA: April Temps Hottest On Record for 12th Straight Month

Posted by Dan Satterfield

From NOAA/NCEI

From NOAA/NCEI

NOAA has followed NASA with their own analysis of the global temp. in April, and it’s nothing less than stunning. Another NOAA report out shows that Human activity has increased the direct warming effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere by 50 percent above pre-industrial levels during the past 25 years

From NOAA:
The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for April 2016 was the highest for the month of April in the NOAA global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880. This marks the 12th consecutive month a monthly global temperature record has been broken, the longest such streak in the 137-year record. The January–April global temperature was also the highest on record.

Global highlights: April 2016

It's been so warm in the first 4 months of 2016, that there is now a 99% chance that thsi year wil be the new hottest year on record. All of the ten warmest have been since 1998.

It’s been so warm in the first 4 months of 2016, that there is now a 99% chance that this year will be the new hottest year on record. All of the ten warmest have been since 1998.

 

  • The April temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.98°F above the 20th century average of 56.7°F. This was the highest for April in the 1880–2016 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2010 by 0.50°F. April 2016 was also the fourth highest monthly temperature departure among all months on record, behind March 2016, February 2016, and December 2015.
  • The April globally averaged land surface temperature was 3.47°F above the 20th century average of 46.5°F. This was the highest for April in the 1880–2016 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2007 by 0.77°F. This was also the third highest temperature departure from average among all 1,636 months in the 1880–2016 record, behind March 2016 and February 2016.
  • The April globally averaged sea surface temperature was 1.44°F above the 20th century monthly average of 60.9°F—the highest global ocean temperature for April in the 1880–2016 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 by 0.25°F and besting 1998, the last time a similar strength El Niño occurred, by 0.43°F. April 2016 tied with February 2016 as the seventh highest departure from average among all 1,636 months in the record. Record high sea surface temperatures across most of the North Indian Ocean, along with parts of the central equatorial and southwest Pacific Ocean contributed to the April warmth. The 10 highest monthly global ocean temperature departures have all occurred in the past 10 months.
  • The April temperature for the lower troposphere (roughly the lowest 5 miles of the atmosphere) was the highest in the 1979–2016 record, at 1.37°F above the 1981–2010 average, as analyzed by the University of Alabama in Huntsville* (UAH) using version 5.6. It was second highest on record (behind 1998), at 1.15°F above the 1981–2010 average, as analyzed by Remote Sensing Systems* (RSS).
  • The April temperature for the mid-troposphere (roughly 2 miles to 6 miles above the surface) was the second highest for April in the 1979–2016 record, at 1.13°F above the 1981–2010 average, as analyzed by UAH. It was also second highest on record, at 1.08°F above the 1981–2010 average, as analyzed by RSS. After removing the influence of temperatures above 6 miles in altitude, the University of Washington, using data analyzed by the UAH and RSS, calculated temperature departures from the 1981–2010 average to be 1.39°F and 1.28°F, respectively, both second highest in the record. All analyses rank April 1998 as the warmest April in the satellite record.
  • According to data from NOAA analyzed by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during April was 890,000 square miles below the 1981–2010 average. This was the smallest April Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in the 50-year period of record, dropping below the previous record set in 1968 by 30,000 square miles. The North American snow cover extent was the 11th smallest on record, while the Eurasian snow cover extent was the fifth smallest.