The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary 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).😜
Main Topic: Streaking- Logging Consecutive Months of Anomalous Warmth for U.S. During Strong El Niño’s
Dear Diary. The U.S. Saw 34 Months in a Row of More Daily High Maxes than Daily Low Min Records During the 2015/16 El Niño. No such streak had ever occurred in my database prior to that to that time going back to the 1880s.
DHMX= Daily High Max Reports. DLMN= Daily Low Min Reports. DHMN= Daily High Min Reports. DLMX=Daily Low Max Reports.
Boldly highlighted red, blue, or purple colored months, such as March 2012, that have ratios of >10 to 1 daily or <1 to 10 of daily warm to low records are either historically hot or cold, most of which have made news. Blue colors represent cold months and red warm. Those months and years with counts close to a 1 to 1 ratio of highs to lows are colored black. All-time record hottest or coldest months and years are boldly colored in purple.
During the period from March 2015 to December 2017 record warmth dominated the U.S. The El Niño ended by 2017, but it took a full year before the planet cooled down enough for the U.S. to see a relatively cool month. Six months had ratios of DHMX to DLMN records of greater than ten to one.
We saw a similar streak during the strong El Niño of 1997/98 although anomalous heat didn’t strike the U.S. until 1998. That streak lasted from May 1998 to April 1999, 12 months before cooling conditions occurred later in 1999. In both El Niño instances there was a lag in time before we saw cooler conditions.
Of course, the planet was warmer by 2015 than in 1999, so a longer streak of warm months occurred then. Now we are experiencing an even warmer Earth as of 2026. We already have a major streak going on before the El Niño of 2026/27 commenced beginning in February 2015 (now up to 19 months).
So, looking at trends, we may not see a relatively cool month until about January 2029 since it may take at least a year for the planet to cool off from the record El Niño of 2026/27. The planet may have gotten so warm by 2029 that we won’t see a relatively cool U S. month in our lifetime.
Think about that. We might be stuck in a regime in which record heat dominates with no break due to our long-term carbon pollution emissions. This means that heat waves will get much worse with mild winters setting up droughts because of lack of snow. Springs and falls will likewise be out of climate whack.
Of course, I will let all know how this streak of warmth is progressing with time.
Here are more “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is More Climate News from Thursday:
(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. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)