NOAA – Page 8 – sunshine hours

NOAA USA – Maximum Temperatures Top 3 for July are 1936, 1934 and 1901

Published on June 25, 2014June 25, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

According to the NOAA, July 1936 is now back on top as the warmest month in USA history for average temperature.

The new NOAA page allows checking of maximum Temperature.

The top 3 are 1936, 1934 and 1901. 1931, 1954 and 1930 are in the top 10 as well.

NOAA USA – July 1936 is back on top!!!!

Published on June 25, 2014 by sunshinehours12 Comments

According to the NOAA, July 1936 is now back on top as the warmest month in USA history.

Remember when they said it was July 2012? (see below for screen shot)

You can check here (until they erase it or change their mind).

USA NOAA First 5 Months (Jan-May) Were Only Ranked 56 out of 120

Published on June 12, 2014 by sunshinehours11 Comment

According to the NOAA the first 5 months (Jan-May) 2014 was ranked 56th out of 120 (120 = warmest) .

The cooling trend for Jan-May dates back to 1990. 2012 was the hot aberration.

These are the anomalies from the Jan-May average. It has been a cold start to the year for the East while warmer in the south west.

Whitehouse Admits Warmer Weather Best For Economy

Published on May 30, 2014May 30, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

The White House admitted yesterday that warmer weather is better for the US GDP. (A very slight exaggeration on my part)

“3. The first quarter of 2014 was marked by unusually severe winter weather, including record cold temperatures and snowstorms, which explains part of the difference in GDP growth relative to previous quarters. The left chart shows the quarterly deviation in heating degree days from its average for the same quarter over the previous five years. By this measure, the first quarter of 2014 was the third most unusually cold quarter over the last sixty years, behind only the first quarter of 1978 and the fourth quarter of 1976. “

There is some question whether there numbers are correct as this blog post discusses.

The NOAA suggests Q1 had the 9th lowest heating degree days (not the asserted 3rd)

But I think we can all agree that if more “Heating Degree Days” is bad for the GDP as the White House assets, then fewer “Heating Degree Days” would be better for the economy.

And therefore “Global Warming” is better for the US GDP.

We certainly don’t want to damage the economy by returning to the late 1970’s when “Heating Degree Days” went through the roof! That would be a disaster for the US economy.

Hurrah!

USA NOAA Mar/Apr 2014 Precipitation is Normal

Published on May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

Remember when “drought was the new normal”?

According to the NOAA the first two months of spring were 0.15″ above the 1901-2000 average. In other words … Normal!

Most of the country is normal. Northwest and southeast are wetter. Middle south is drier.

USA NOAA April 2014 – 3.01F Colder Than April 1925

Published on May 13, 2014May 13, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

According to the NOAA April 2014 was ranked 75th out of 120 April’s (120 = warmest) . It was only .66F above the 1901-2000 average.

The 3rd warmest April in US history was in 1925 when it was 3.67F above the 1901-2000 average.

Other April’s warmer than 2014: 1895,1896,1906,1908,1910,1915,1925,1930,1934,1938,1941,1942,1943,1946,1948,1949 ….

NOAA Sea Ice Extent Data Hasn’t Been Update Since May 2

Published on May 5, 2014May 5, 2014 by sunshinehours13 Comments

Update: They updated the data. The took 2 tries before it seemed ok. My post is here.

Usually the NOAA data here and here is updated each morning. It hasn’t been updated since May 2.

The Streak – 1933/1934 and 2011/2012

Published on April 30, 2014 by sunshinehours11 Comment

The Hockey Schtick blog brought a recent paper to my attention.

The abstract says:

“A recent observation in NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center’s monthly assessment of the state of the climate was that contiguous US average monthly temperatures were in the top third of monthly ranked historical temperatures for thirteen straight months from June 2011 — June 2012. The chance of such a streak occurring randomly was quoted as (1/3)¹³, or about one in 1.6 million.”

I’m not going to discuss the “chances”. But I am going to simply note the following.

The NOAA ranks months temperature and precipitation based on the number of months from 1895. So 2012 was the 118th year. If a month is ranked 118 (as of 2012) then it was the warmest month from 1895 to 2012.

Using the same 12 month June to June time frame and using data from October 2012 ( before NOAA’s recent update) it took me about 10 minutes to find out a similar streak.

From June 1933 to to June 1934 8 months were ranked 100 and above. 2 of them were ranked 118.

From June 2011 to June 2012 8 months were ranked 100 and above. 1 of them was ranked 118.

year	Month	Rank
1933	6	118
1933	7	104
1933	9	116
1933	12	115
1934	1	114
1934	4	107
1934	5	118
1934	6	108

year	Month	Rank
2011	7	114
2011	8	117
2012	1	115
2012	2	104
2012	3	118
2012	4	116
2012	5	117
2012	6	107

What are the odds of that occurring 80 years apart!

USA NOAA March 2014 – 43rd Coldest – Colder Than 1898,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1907 …

Published on April 15, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

According to the NOAA March 2014 was 43rd coldest out of 120 March’s.

That is the 2nd March in a row colder than the 1901-2000 average.

This is a partial list of the March’s warmer than 2014: 1898,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1907,1908,1910,1911,1914,1916,1918,1919,1921,1925,1927,1928,1929,1933,1934,1935,1936,1938,1939 …