It really IS Gettin’ Hot in Here
May 16, 2012
Above – Hilarious and weirdly sexy folk-rock version of Nelly’s “Hot in Here”.
Below, hottest 12 months on record.
Americans just lived through the hottest 12 months ever recorded, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Tuesday.
The announcement came as NOAA reported that the U.S. also just experienced its third-warmest April on record.
“These temperatures, when added with the first quarter and previous 11 months, calculate to the warmest year-to-date and 12-month periods since recordkeeping began in 1895,” the agency reported.
NOAA said that for the period from May 2011 to April 2012, the nationally averaged temperature was 55.7 degrees, 2.8 degrees higher than the 20th century average. The national average temperature for April was 55 degrees, 3.6 degrees above average.
To be sure, the higher temperatures haven’t hit every region equally. The Pacific Northwest actually saw cooler-than-average temperatures over the past year, according to NOAA data. Much of California was also cooler than normal; Southern California had an average year.
But record averages for the year scorched central Texas — which saw a horrific drought last year — the upper Midwest, and much of the Northeast.
Temperatures that would have once been considered unusually hot and record breaking now aren’t even in the top two or three, said Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton University climate scientist.
The last time the globe had a month that averaged below the 20th Century normal was February 1985. April makes it 326 months in a row. Nearly half the population of the world has never seen a month that was cooler than normal, according to United Nations data.
“A warmer world is the new normal,” Oppenheimer said. “To me, it’s startling to think that a generation has grown up with global warming defining their world.”
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
May 16, 2012 at 8:22 pm
1. It’s just 5% of the earth’s surface © James Hansen
2. Monthly data is meaningless. The planet doesn’t care about months
3. UK journos have long since discovered that stretches of “nice weather” make many wish for not fight climate change
4. Your post on days since last major hurricane hit aforementioned 5% will be welcome
May 17, 2012 at 12:36 am
The data on the hottest 12 months on USA record is not misleading since it is recognized that it represents only a data point and is consistent with the observed decadal global trend.
It is not being used to refute the global trend, simply another piece in the data.
May 17, 2012 at 9:49 pm
I haven’t said anything about “misleading”. Perhaps, “to the edge of pointless” would do.
May 17, 2012 at 10:48 pm
Not nearly pointless. As these average temperature of the USA records are broken, there is an increased chance that our Great Plains region experiences droughts that affect crop production. Those that study the region tell us the area was a desert in the past, and prone to return that way.
May 16, 2012 at 9:46 pm
“NOAA said that for the period from May 2011 to April 2012, the nationally averaged temperature was 55.7 degrees, 2.8 degrees higher than the 20th century average. The national average temperature for April was 55 degrees, 3.6 degrees above average.” (source: LA Times)
Ah, once again we see superb professionalism from true experts. At least NOAA takes pains to specify whether they’re talking in Celcius or Fahrenheit.
No doubt the LA Times would claim that as their main audience thinks in Fahrenheit, the labels are redundant.
Something similar explains how humans succeeded in crashing a probe on Mars by accident.
No wonder USAns are confused.
<Eccles>Shut up, Eccles!</Eccles>
May 17, 2012 at 4:24 am
hey omno. next time you take a bath, the water isnt hot nor is it wet..its a conspiracy..you’re sitting in a conspiracy.
May 19, 2012 at 7:56 am
I am blown away that some uncritically take the stance that the scientists are nearly all corrupt. Apparently, the NAS has been infiltrated with eco-radicals (see comments near bottom).
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/11/gavins-big-wild-yamal-yawner/
May 17, 2012 at 9:18 am
La Nina is fading. We will likely see a year with no El Nino or La Nina- meaning probably a warm year.
May 17, 2012 at 11:29 am
Many denialists were claiming (after cherry picking a starting point of 1999) that the climate was cooling. Those people might now attempt a Jedi hand-wave then state that we just barely exceeded 1999 so there still is nothing to worry about.
To most rational people the original NOAA statement stands for itself “Americans just lived through the hottest 12 months ever recorded”. Anyone with a brain will already know that NOAA’s “direct measurement” starting point is the 1870’s when inexpensive, yet accurate, thermometers where sold throughout the world to people just starting the International Meteorological Organization.
p.s. If it is slightly cooler in 2013, the denialists will repeat what they did after 1999
May 19, 2012 at 9:48 am
Haha.
“We have been cooling since 2012! Take that!”
May 19, 2012 at 4:32 pm
It’s more like “rational people are cool” while “deniers are not cool”
🙂
May 17, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But – as the Christopher Booker, James Delingpole and Melanie Phillips (and all the other scientifically-illiterate journalists) will no doubt point out – we have had record numbers of hail storms and low temperatures in the UK this month… The fact that increasingly frequent and severe storms are an inevitable consequence of increased difference in both the ocean and atmosphere temperatures developing between polar and tropical latitudes clearly cuts no ice with them.
May 17, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Jame Hansen’s comparison of emissions trading with medieval indulgences offered by the Catholic Church for the forgiveness of sins is also instructive:
May 17, 2012 at 7:33 pm
I have a theory that weather forecasts are going to be increasingly wrong in both directions – warmer and cooler, because of the climate instability. When the forecast says it’s going to be warm and dry, it’ll either be hot and dry, or overcast. When they call for rain, it’ll be a deluge, or dry. The frequency with which weather forecasters are accurate is going to decrease because we are continuing to step away from the old reliable normal.
It’s like fighting this year’s flu with last year’s virus. The days of the farmer’s almanac are fading in the rear view mirror. I’m not predicting that the climate will be constantly swinging between extremes all the time, like a volume knob with two settings – really soft and really loud. But I am betting that those who are trying to forecast the weather based on the new climate will find it increasingly difficult to get it right more often than not.
May 17, 2012 at 8:18 pm
I’m not so sure you’re right about that. Computing power is still increasing, and models are becoming better. Of course the weatherpeeps will still be caught out now and then, but I suspect that forecasts will continue to improve.
May 17, 2012 at 10:39 pm
You have a hypothesis, but I believe the weather forecasting models still rely on initial atmospheric conditions and a set of dynamic equations. Apparently, the trick is getting better data on initial conditions, and better mesh refinement in the computer solver.
Dr. Heidi Cullens’ book “Weather of the Future” has an excellent chapter on weather models and how they relate to climate models.
May 18, 2012 at 3:46 am
[…] VIDEO: It’s REALLY Gettin’ Hot in Herre: (Peter Sinclair’s Climate Denial Crock of the Week): […]
May 21, 2012 at 4:15 pm
[…] which will be a part of the next United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change report.2012/05/16: PSinclair: It really IS Gettin’ Hot in Here2012/05/15: LA Times: It really is hot in here: U.S. has warmest 12 months on record2012/05/16: […]