Summit County Citizens Voice

Year-to-date the 8th-warmest for Planet Earth

.jk

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Much of Europe, North Africa and South America reported warmer than average temperatures in October, while parts of North America and central Asia were cooler than average.

Taken all together, the average global October temperature was tied with 2008 as the fifth-warmest on record, 1.13 degrees above average, based on data going back to 1880, according to the latest monthly update released this week by the National Climatic Data Center.

Land surface temperatures were the eighth-warmest on record, while sea surface temps tied with 2004 as the fourth-warmest. For the year to-date, 2012 is the eighth-warmest on record, at 1.04 degrees above the 20th century average, and marks 332 months in a row with temps above the historical average.

The record warmest October occurred in 2003 and the record coldest October occurred in 1912.  The last October with a below-average temperature was 1976. The Northern Hemisphere ranked as the seventh warmest October on record, while the Southern Hemisphere ranked as second warmest, behind 1997.

While the midsection of the U.S. saw below-average readings for the month, that area was sandwiched by much above average temperatures in the Southwest and Northeast. Brazil and Bolivia experienced a spring heat wave with record and near-record warmth, as did southern India.

Cooler than average readings prevailed across northern Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China along with much of central North America. Western Canada was much cooler than average.

England and Scotland were the exception to the above-average temps in western Europe, with the UK reporting readings about 2.3 below average, for the coolest October since 2003, while Scotland reported early snow and the coolest October since 1993.

Australia reported a nationally averaged temperature that was 2.75 degrees above average, making it the 10th-warmest October on record.

Information compiled from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for October 2012, published online November 2012, retrieved on November 15, 2012 from
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2012/10
.

Filed under: climate and weather, El Niño, global warming, La Niña Tagged: | climate, Environment, global temperature records, global warming, National Climatic Data Center