Summit County Citizens Voice

Year-to-date also on track for above-average temps

November was warmer and drier than average in much of Colorado.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — The average November temperature across the country was about 1.8 degrees above the 1901-2000 average, with the warmest reading across the eastern half of the country, according to the latest monthly updade from the National Climatic Data Center. Thirteen states in the region recorded top-ten November temperatures.

Readings were similar for the entire September to November autumn season, with below average readings across the West and Northwest, where six states reported below-average readings for the period.

Some highlights from the monthly report include:

• Most states had autumn temperatures which were near to above average. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont had their record warmest fall. Eight other states had an average temperature that was one of the ten warmest on record. Conversely, four states in the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast had below-average autumn temperatures.
• The nationally-averaged precipitation total during autumn was near average. Wet conditions were present from the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast. Parts of the upper Midwest were drier than average, and Minnesota had its third driest autumn on record.

Year-to-date:

For the first 11 months of 2011, the U.S. was warmer than average. Much of the warmth was anchored across the Southern Plains and along the Eastern Seaboard. Delaware and Texas were record warm for the January-November period with statewide temperatures 3.2 degrees F and 2.5 degrees F above their long-term averages, respectively. Only Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington were cooler than average during the period.

In the West, several strong, deep troughs passed through the West this month, bringing cold Arctic air and slightly below to well below normal temperatures to areas west of the Rockies. The associated storm systems, however, generally resulted in precipitation values that were below normal. In part, the trajectories of these storms leave many of them with insufficient moisture to produce typical November precipitation.

NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: National Overview for November 2011, published online December 2011, retrieved on December 9, 2011 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/.

Filed under: climate and weather, global warming, seasons, Snow and weather Tagged: | climate, Colorado, global warming, National Climatic Data Center, November temperature readings, Temperature, weather