Extreme Temperature Diary…January 1-2, 2018

Tuesday January 2nd… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. I’ll refer to extreme temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. Here is today’s climate change related topic:

2017 Climate Summaries (Part 1)

At the beginning of every year there are a myriad of climate summaries that get released for the prior year. I won’t post all, but will try to hit some of the highlights.

First let’s look at NCEI record counts (or ET counts) on a global scale. Keep in mind that it’s expected that 2017 will come in third warmest since 1880 with only 2015 and 2016 being only slightly warmer, so these numbers are not surprising at all:

Ratio of record All-time warm to cold: 8.83 to 1
Ratio of record Monthly warm to cold: 6.17 to 1
Ratio of record Daily warm to cold:     2.94 to 1

 

What’s interesting here is that all three datasets have high mins outpacing high maxes indicating that nights are warming  faster than days, one of my findings that is a global warming signature.

Now let’s look at some U.S. summaries. Yes, it was warm in the United States. Despite a bitter cold snap east of the Rockies in late December many stations had their warmest year on record, particularly across the southern tier of states:

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 Now let’s look at some of the ETs reported today:

From Pennsylvania. Brrr!

And a big Brrr! goes out for Boston:

P.S. We are tracking a very strong winter storm that will produce some significant impacts along the East Coast by Thursday. In the wake of the system more record cold will affect the Northeast from Friday into Saturday:

NYC Central Park record low high on Fri/Sat (5th-6th) are 13°F & 12°F set back in 1884 and 1896.  Both are threatened.

I’m suggesting that you read Bob Henson’s splendid Category 6 post on the cold and the looming storm:

https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/year-end-arctic-chill-persists-ice-and-snow-loom-florida-maine

Here are a few points scored today for the “warm team:”

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
511 PM PST TUE JAN 02 2018

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 70 DEGREES WAS SET AT LANCASTER TODAY.
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 68 SET IN 2012.

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 65 DEGREES WAS SET AT SANDBERG CA TODAY.
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 62 SET IN 2012.

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 85 DEGREES WAS SET AT WOODLAND HILLS CA TODAY.
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 83 SET IN 2012.

Tomorrow there will be a smattering of record low reports east of the Rockies but a relatively low number compared with the last couple of days:

Nevertheless, the cold will remain dangerous for those not prepared to be outdoors.

The Climate Guy

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Monday January 1st, 2018… Dear Diary. Happy New Year! The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. I’ll refer to extreme temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. Here is today’s climate change related topic:

Just no! It’s Cold Now, But That Doesn’t Mean That Global Warming Is Not Happening 

As mentioned a few days ago mainly due to Trumps tweet, renowned climate scientists have to battle through every winter convincing common folk, who are easily persuaded voters, that cold weather Does not negate global warming. Here is what I saw Dr. Michael Mann dealing with this morning, for example:

David wants someone to help explain the difference between weather and climate to him. Please feel free to do!

Yes, David over the short run you might see some record cold temperatures, but I
over a period of months and years heat is trumping cold. Speaking of that December 2017 will likely be the 37th consecutive month in the National Center For Environmental database of more daily record highs than lows for the United States (data through 12/30/17): 

 Here is more proof: 

Over last 365 days we’ve seen 61 all-time records for warmth (‘high max’) & 7 all-time records for cold (‘low min’). That’s  ~9 times as many warm records as cold records. Those citing recent cold to argue against climate change are being disingenuous.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to poo poo the current, historic cold wave gripping most of the U.S., but carbon pollution has and will diminish any future cold spells.

Speaking of that record cold let’s see how many ET reports I can peg from the NWS on today’s post. It’s certainly very cold in my home town today, but not record breaking cold. Brrr! I’m glad to be indoors, comfy, and watching bowl games:

Wow!

Here are some reports of daily record lows from the last few days of 2017:

A number of record lows set or tied the last 2 days across the East.  Several of the Thursday records were actually set Thursday Night just before midnight rather than during the usual early morning.

 

During and after a potential blizzard in the Northeast later this week there will be exceptionally dangerous wind chills:

And those ETs…Yikes!

NYC Central Park record low high on Fri/Sat (5th-6th) are 13°F & 12°F set back in 1884 and 1896.  Both are threatened.

Look for more record low reports to east of the Rockies tonight:

I’ll add

Dear Diary. Here are some evening updates:

Here is one lone point for the warm team from the sultry Southwest:

THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 71 SET IN 1964.

I’ll post more record reports as they cross my radar later today.

The Climate Guy

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