The graph is in thise post compares sea ice extent for just one day of each year – 138 to the AMO for the month day 138 is in – in this case May. There isn’t any AMO data for May 2014 yet.
AMO data comes from NOAA, Sea Ice data comes from NSIDC.
The red is the May AMO – Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. The blue is Antarctic Sea Ice Extent just for day 138.
The dashed lines are the liner trends for each.
Click on the graph for a larger size.
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.
![cag_[ Statewide Precipitation Anomalies (accumulation between Mar 2014 and Apr 2014) ]](https://sunshinehours.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/cag_-statewide-precipitation-anomalies-accumulation-between-mar-2014-and-apr-2014.jpg)
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 ….
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 |
According to Time Magazine: “Climate change skeptics are pointing to the record cold weather as evidence that the globe isn’t warming. But it could be that melting Arctic ice is making sudden cold snaps more likely—not less”
Do you want to see what a cold snap really looks like according to the NOAA?
February 1936 – Coldest Month in USA History (click on the image for the full effect)
![cag_[ Statewide Temperature Anomalies (Feb 1936) ]](https://sunshinehours.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/cag_-statewide-temperature-anomalies-feb-1936.jpg)
In 2014, Feb was -1.69°F below the 1901-2000 average. In February 1936 the USA was -8.59°F below average. Big difference.
In North Dakota, February 1936 was –26.0°F below the 1901-2000 average. The whole month averaged -14.1°F below 0.
In comparison, lets take a look at Feb 2014:
![cag_[ Statewide Temperature Anomalies (Feb 2014) ]](https://sunshinehours.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/cag_-statewide-temperature-anomalies-feb-2014.jpg)
March 1910 (Before Global Warming) 7.94°F Above the 1901-2000 Average
![cag_[ Divisional Temperature Anomalies (Mar 1910) ]](https://sunshinehours.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/cag_-divisional-temperature-anomalies-mar-1910.jpg)
Some of those divisions are 16F above normal.
March 2014 (After Global Warming) -0.99°F Below the 1901-2000 Average
![cag_[ Divisional Temperature Anomalies (Mar 2014) ]](https://sunshinehours.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/cag_-divisional-temperature-anomalies-mar-2014.jpg)
http://gis.ncdc.noaa.gov/map/cag/#app=cdo
PS I just randomly picked 1934 without checking. And then I noticed 1910 … but I’ll post the 1934 map so it doesn’t go to waste.
March 1934 (Before Global Warming) 1.28°F Above the 1901-2000 Average
![cag_[ Divisional Temperature Anomalies (Mar 1934) ]](https://sunshinehours.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/cag_-divisional-temperature-anomalies-mar-1934.jpg)
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 …
I missed this when it came out last month, but according to the NOAA Precipitation for the 12 month period ending February 2014 was normal.
It was .19 inches above the 1901-2000 mean.
Wasn’t there supposed to be a permanent “Climate Change” drought?
Addendum: If you split the NOAA Climate History in two (March – February), these are the averages:
1895 – 1955 = 29.45 inches
1956 – 2014 = 30.44
One last one:
1980 – 2014 = 30.75 inches
Climate Change … bringer of slightly more precipitation.
According to the NOAA, February 2014 was tied for 21st warmest with 2001. It was .45C colder than 1998. Brrr.
But it was also colder than 1983 and 1987 and 1991 and only .1C warmer than 1973. 1973!!!!
The trend for February from 1998 is down -0.15C/decade.
sunshine hours 