Hottest. Month. Ever.
[EDIT: The full report is now online -- just click the NCDC hotlink below -- and, oops, looks as if the news reports I saw got things a little wrong. July wasn't the hottest month ever for the full USA, but rather for the contiguous 48 states, so I'm editing the text below to reflect the actual data.]
For the [contiguous] United States, last month apparently was the hottest month on record. Not the hottest July -- the hottest month.
Also hottest ever was the 12-month period ending in July.
That's according to a spokesman for NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. (The report doesn't seem to be on the site yet; tomorrow, I'd guess.) The NCDC also monitors other extreme weather events -- it has an extreme weather index! why did I not know about this? -- including the drought that continues to grip much of the food-growing world.
The same NCDC climate scientist, Jake Crouch, was quoted in a NASA report four days ago, talking about the ongoing wave of heat and drought. They didn't start this summer, he notes: "799 daytime heat records were broken in the first five days of January."
Happy reading -- and happy August, everyone.
This entry is cross-posted from www.dreamwidth.org, where there are
comments. Comment where ye will.
For the [contiguous] United States, last month apparently was the hottest month on record. Not the hottest July -- the hottest month.
Also hottest ever was the 12-month period ending in July.
That's according to a spokesman for NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. (The report doesn't seem to be on the site yet; tomorrow, I'd guess.) The NCDC also monitors other extreme weather events -- it has an extreme weather index! why did I not know about this? -- including the drought that continues to grip much of the food-growing world.
The same NCDC climate scientist, Jake Crouch, was quoted in a NASA report four days ago, talking about the ongoing wave of heat and drought. They didn't start this summer, he notes: "799 daytime heat records were broken in the first five days of January."
Happy reading -- and happy August, everyone.
This entry is cross-posted from www.dreamwidth.org, where there are
comments. Comment where ye will.