16 May 2012
April 2012 Makes 427th Consecutive Months With Ocean Temps. Warmer Than 20th Century Average
Posted by Dan Satterfield
From NOAA NCDC- April 2012 was the 5th warmest April on record. Records go back 133 years.
Ocean temperatures in April were the second warmest on record and this makes April the 427th month in a row with ocean temperatures above the average of the 20th century.
Here are the exact numbers from NOAA:
From the Nat. Climate Data Center
The U.S. Climate Extremes Index was at a record high for the January April period as well:
The Climate Extremes index from NOAA NCDC.
and NOAA says for the U.S.:
- The contiguous United States mean temperature during January–April was 7.4°C (45.4°F), which is 3.0°C (5.4°F) above the long-term average and the warmest such period since national records began in 1895.
Notice how the higher latitudes are seeing the greatest departure from average temperatures. This has long been predicted as a signal of increasing levels of greenhouse gases.
Global temps. from January April 2012 were the 15th warmest on record. This in spite of the fact that a weak La Nina (colder than normal waters in the Equatorial Pacific).
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.