It’s still getting warmer out there. In its monthly climate roundup for the home planet, the National Climate Data Center reports that the first 10 months of 2007 flat out sizzled in the Northern Hemisphere.
Northern land masses logged the highest average temperatures since weather dudes began etching reliable records some 127 years ago — more than 2 °F above the long-term average and significantly above any previous record.
The southern hemisphere was no slouch, either, with land and ocean brewing up the ninth warmest year-to-date on record.
These new climate figures come only days before the release of the final synthesis report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — that zany group of supercomputer jockeys who just shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. Watch for news of this final chapter, with recommendations for what people can do to head off planetary disaster, over the coming weekend.
Other highlights from NCDC:
- October 2007 temperatures were above average in the contiguous U.S., Australia, northwestern Africa, parts of South America, and most of Asia. Cooler-than-average conditions occurred in Mongolia, central Europe, and Paraguay.
- Precipitation during October 2007 was variable in many areas. It was above average in the midwestern and eastern states of the contiguous U.S., and parts of South America, Africa, and eastern Asia. Drier-than-average conditions were observed in the south central states of the contiguous U.S, eastern Australia, parts of Europe, India, and China.
- Cold phase (La Nina) ENSO conditions strengthened during October.
With average temps .88 °F above average, the tenth month of 2007 was the sixth warmest October for global ocean and land temps combined.
“The October land surface temperature ranked third warmest on record, while the ocean surface temperature ranked ninth warmest in the 127-year record,” the NCDC reported.
The entire global average was also very high, but not flirting with setting any new all-time records. The January-to-October period tied with the same span in 2002 as the third warmest since 1880.
But, if you subtract all that green water, global land surface has never been warmer. Between January and October, the planet’s continents and large islands averaged 1.87 °F above normal, beating the previous record set in 2005.
Driving this never-ending simmer, of course, were the Northern land masses, with especially high temps along the Far North and in Siberia. Year-to-date temps sizzled 2.16 °F above the long-term average — more than one-third of a degree above the previous record set in 2002.