The Earth just simmered through the warmest boreal winter on record, despite unremarkable temperatures in the United States and a brutal cold snap across much of Alaska and the Far North.
Temperatures over land and ocean combined averaged 1.3° F above the 128-year mean for December, January and February, breaking the previous record set in 2002, according to an analysis published on-line this week by the National Climate Data Center.
Driving this statistical heat wave were temperatures that averaged 2.86° F above normal over land in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe and Asia. The Northern Hemisphere’s ocean also set a record: 1.64° F above normal.
The NCDC explains further:
The global land and ocean surface temperatures were sixth warmest on record in February, but a record warm January helped push the Boreal winter to its highest values since records began in 1880. The global December 2006 - February 2007 land surface temperature was the warmest on record, while the ocean-surface temperature tied for second warmest in the 128-year period of record, approximately 0.06° C (0.1° F) cooler than the record established during the very strong El Niño episode of 1997-1998.
The paradox for Americans, of course, hinges on a winter that slammed the eastern Midwest with deep snow and bitter cold. “The December 2006-February 2007 winter season was marked by periods of unusually warm and cold conditions in the U.S., but the overall seasonal temperature was near average,” says NCDC’s current U.S. report.
Meanwhile, Alaskans have gotten whipsawed by a winter has swung from cold to warm, and back again, emerging with what the statistics now declare slightly above average. It’s been the “28th warmest on record (1918-2007) for the 3-month period (December - February) with temperatures 1.4° F (0.8° C) above the 1971-2000 mean,” the NCDC says.
Conditions in Southcentral Alaska, home to Far North Science, have been demonstrating the difference between the abstract lines that squiggle across a climate graph and the daily reality of weather that freezes nose hair and burns the cheeks. Check out the recent Anchorage climate charts published by the Alaska Climate Research Center.
In Anchorage, it’s been below freezing for at least six weeks, with minus temps almost every morning. From Feb. 18 to March 15, Anchorage has averaged only 9.2 ° F — tying with 1971 as the second coldest snap registered for the period. (Homer harbor has stayed frozen, locking in the fishing fleet.)
