15 March 2010

NOAA- This Past Winter Was 5th Warmest On Record

Posted by Dan Satterfield

A lot of people who do TV weather and a lot of climate researchers have been inundated with questions along the line of “So what do you think of global warming now” after the February Blizzards in the Northeast. Recent polls even show that people are more skeptical of climate change.

Scientific theories do not rest on public opinion of course.

So what was the scientific truth of February’s weather??

Take a look at the image below from NOAA. NASA and the Univ. of East Anglia will have very similar data, although they do their calculations a little differently. The  bigger the red dot, the more above normal the month was.

Yes, it was cold in the Northeast USA and in Western Europe in February. The rest of the planet was incredibly warm. Data from NOAA/NCDC.

Canada had the warmest winter (Dec.-Feb.) ever recorded. They blew away their old record completely.

Update: NOAA has released new satellite data and both January and February were the second warmest months on record using the two independently derived global temperatures from satellite data.

December -February 5th warmest on record- from NOAA

The UAH and RSS data from satellites is even warmer:

The two independent lower troposphere temps. for this past winter. Courtesy NOAA/NCDC/ RSS/UAH