An Abnormally Hot November Is the New Normal
November 2013 was the warmest November around the globe in the 134 years we've been tracking temperatures. Don't celebrate though — both because global warming isn't really the sort of thing you celebrate and because another record November is probably right around the corner.
We looked at the summary text from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration since 1998 (the earliest available) to find out how unusual an unusual November was. As you can see in the graph at right, it's not unusual at all. Over the past 16 years, global temperatures have repeatedly set new records for warmth. In fact, only one time has a November not been in the top 10 warmest Novembers at the time that the temperatures were measured.
November 1998
"When the land and ocean temperature anomalies are combined, November 1998 was the second warmest November on record. The global anomaly was 1.00 deg.F (0.56 deg.C) above the 1880-1997 mean." [VIEW]
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November 1999
"Although the combined land and ocean temperature anomaly was well above the 1880-1998 long term average, it was below the record anomaly recorded during the 1997/1998 El Nino episode." [VIEW]
November 2000
"The combined land and ocean temperature anomaly was +0.34C above the 1880-1999 long-term mean, which was the 10th warmest." [VIEW]
November 2001
"Global average land and sea surface temperature was the warmest on record for November and tied for warmest for the boreal fall (September-November)." [VIEW]
November 2002
"Global average combined land and sea surface temperature was the third warmest for November 2002 and fourth warmest for September-November." [VIEW]
November 2003
"Global average combined land and sea surface temperature was the third warmest for November 2003 and warmest for September-November 2003." [VIEW]
November 2004
"Based on preliminary data, global average combined land and sea surface temperature was warmest on record for both November and September-November 2004." [VIEW]
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November 2005
"Based on preliminary data, globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was warmest on record for September-November 2005, third warmest on record for November." [VIEW]
November 2006
"Based on preliminary data, globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was fourth warmest on record for November 2006 as well as for boreal fall (September - November 2006) and sixth warmest for January-November year-to-date." [VIEW]
November 2007
"Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the eighth warmest on record for November and for the boreal fall (September-November), and the January-November year-to-date period ranked 4th warmest." [VIEW]
November 2008
"Based on preliminary data, the globally-averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the fourth warmest on record for November, fifth warmest for boreal fall (September-November) and ninth warmest January-November year-to-date period." [VIEW]
November 2009
"The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for November 2009 was 0.60°C (1.08°F) above the 20th century average of 12.9°C (55.2°F). This is the fourth warmest such value on record." [VIEW]
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November 2010
"The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for November 2010 was 0.69°C (1.24°F) above the 20th century average of 12.9°C (55.2°F). This was the second warmest such period on record." [VIEW]
November 2011
"The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for November 2011 was the 12th warmest on record at 13.35°C (55.81°F), which is 0.45°C (0.81°F) above the 20th century average of 12.9°C (55.0°F)." [VIEW]
November 2012
"The average combined global land and ocean surface temperature for November 2012 was 0.67°C (1.21°F) above the 20th century average of 12.9°C (60.4°F). This is the fifth warmest November since records began in 1880." [VIEW]
November 2013
"The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for November 2013 was record highest for the 134-year period of record, at 0.78°C (1.40°F) above the 20th century average of 12.9°C (55.2°F)." [VIEW]
November 2013, it's worth pointing out, saw slightly below-average temperatures in the United States (compared to a baseline of the average temperature from 1981 to 2010). But in Russia, as you can see in the image at the top of this post, temperatures were way, way above normal. In July, we commented on the fact that people in Siberia were sunbathing. November sunbathing in Siberia hasn't yet happened, that we know of, but that too may someday not be unusual.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2013/12/abnormally-hot-november-new-normal/356258/
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