9 September 2011

USA Records Second Hottest Summer On Record

Posted by Dan Satterfield

From NOAA/NCDC. Click to see a larger version.

Climate Highlights — August (from NCDC)

  • The average U.S. temperature in August was 75.7 degrees F (24.3 degrees C), which is 3.0 degrees F (1.6 degrees C) above the long-term (1901-2000) average, resulting in the second warmest August on record. Precipitation averaged across the nation was 2.31 inches (58.7 mm). This was 0.29 inch (7.3 mm) below the long-term average, with large variability between regions.
  • The excessive heat which dominated June and July across the southern tier of the country continued into August. Six states — Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas — had their warmest August on record. Five other states had a top ten warm August — Florida (3rd warmest), Georgia (4th), Utah (5th), Wyoming (8th), and South Carolina (9th). The Southwest and South climate regions also had their warmest August on record.
  • During August, above-average temperatures dominated most of the United States. Only nine of the Lower 48 States experienced August temperatures which were near-average, and no state had an average August temperature which was below-average.
    In the Arctic:
    The sea ice melt is flirting with the record.. 

    The summer melt is within a few days of ending and a new record is very poss. According to some groups who track the ice, we are already there.

    Here is this week’s update on the record warm vs the record cold.

    The wet weather from Lee in the eastern U.S. led to more record low highs than we have seen in many months this week.Record low highs continue to be beat by record high overnight lows by 2 to 1 in the past 365 days.