Extreme Temperature Diary- January 9th, 2019/ Topic: Hottest Years For U.S. Cities

guyonclimate_mi5tor

Wednesday January 9th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. 

Hottest Years For U.S. Cities

Today I am pleased to announce that Climate Central has completed compiling statistics ranking the hottest years for many large cities across the U.S. through 2018. I’m humbled to have been considered for contributing to Climate Central’s statistics during this decade. I’m reposting Climate Central’s hottest years for U.S. Cities article released today, January 9th for all to read and scientifically judge. It’s no surprise that most cities had their hottest year recently given warming trends due to carbon pollution: 

http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/hottest-years-for-us-cities

 

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For most places in the U.S., the hottest year on record has come during the current decade. As an example: Atlanta

records - market

  Most U.S. cities notched their hottest year on record in the 2010s. See what year came in on top for Atlanta https://buff.ly/2TzbMS7
#climatematters.

To get the above nifty chart for a large city near you see: http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/hottest-years-for-us-cities

The 2018 U.S. temperature analysis from NOAA has been delayed due the federal government shutdown. We will bring you the information once it’s released. In its place this week, we calculated the average annual temperatures at 244 individual U.S. stations throughout their periods of record, highlighted the decade in which each record hot year was established, and showed the breakdown of each station’s records by decade.

Only one place in our sample had its hottest year on record in 2018 — Palm Springs, California. On the broader scale, 2018 is the first time since 2014 that the U.S as a whole did not have one of its 10 hottest years.  Of the stations analyzed, 53 percent experienced their hottest year during the decade of the 2010s, consistent with this being the hottest decade on record in the U.S. This far exceeds the second-place decade of the 1930s, when 18 percent notched their hottest year on record. Periods of record vary, but 70 percent of stations were active by the 1930s and 96 percent were active by the 1960s.

Despite a cooler than normal November, 2018 was still running way above average — year-to-date temperatures through November were 16th warmest on record.  Through December 22, the last day before the government shutdown made data inaccessible, the number of daily record highs in 2018 outnumbered the number of daily record lows by a ratio of 1.68-to-1. That ratio may not be as dramatic as in recent years, but even with local short-term warming and cooling, overall warming from the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues to drive the long-term temperature trend.

(I’m adding this graphic for reference to Climate Central’s last paragraph):

METHODOLOGY:

Data was gathered from the Applied Climate Information System. Average annual temperature was determined using the average of days (not the average of months). Years with more the 30 days of missing data were removed from the analysis. In case of a tie (22 occurrences), the most recent year is represented. Former Weather Channel meteorologist Guy Walton maintains a comprehensive records database, analyzing monthly, annual, and decadal records trends.

SUPPORTING MULTIMEDIA:

10 hottest u.s. years on record
global temps & co2
See more high resolution graphics and videos at our NEW searchable media library.
METS IN ACTION:
amelia draper

Amelia Draper — Washington, DC (WRC/NBC)

jason boyer

Jason Boyer — Asheville, NC (WLOS/ABC)

NOAA:
Get eight popular snow forecasting tools as we move into midwinter.
NASA:
Find quick answers to climate change questions at Vital Signs of the Planet.

I invite all to peruse Climate Central’s database to see where your nearest large city ranks.

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Here is some more climate and weather news from Wednesday:

(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have  put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity.)

 

(If you like these posts and my work please contribute via the PayPal widget, which has recently been added to this site. Thanks in advance for any support.) 

The Climate Guy

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