National state of the climate overview data for May

[cycloneye]

Wow,look how warm it was on most of the U.S in the Spring months.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2012/5

[Cyclenall]

That first image is absolutely SICK!! And when I say sick, I mean awesome! To see all those states having the warmest Spring is breathtaking; you can tell I love the heat and how crazy its becoming .

[jinftl]

Some interesting insights on the quantifiable magnitude of what this Spring's warmth from Dr. Jeff Masters:

"Spring 2012 in the contiguous U.S. demolished the old records for hottest spring and most extreme season of any kind, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Thursday. With the warmest March, third warmest April, and second warmest May, the March - April - May spring season was 5.2°F above average--the largest temperature departure from average of any season on record for the contiguous United States.

What's truly remarkable is the margin the old record was broken by--spring 2012 temperatures were a full 1°F above the previous most extreme season, the winter of 1999 - 2000. All-time seasonal temperature records are very difficult to break, and are usually broken by only a tenth of a degree. To see the old record crushed by a full degree is a stunning and unparalleled event in U.S. meteorological history."

He even takes it a step further and looks at the last 12 months of U.S. temperature data...

"U.S. heat over the past 12 months: a one in half-a-million event
The U.S. record for hottest 12-month period fell for the second straight month in May. The June 2011 - May 2012 temperatures smashed the previous record by a startling 0.4°F, which is a huge margin to break a record by for a 1-year period. The past twelve months have featured America's 2nd warmest summer, 4th warmest winter, and warmest spring on record. Thirty-two states were record warm for the 12-month period, and an additional ten states were top ten warm.

Each of the 12 months from June 2011 through May 2012 ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895-present record. According to NCDC, the odds of this occurring randomly during any particular month are 1 in 531,441. Thus, we should only see one more 12-month period so warm between now and 46,298 AD--assuming the climate is staying the same as during the past 118 years. The unusual warmth was due, in part, to a La Niña event in the Pacific that altered jet stream patterns, keeping the polar jet stream much farther to the north than usual. However, it is highly unlikely that the extremity of the heat during the past 12 months could have occurred without a warming climate.

Some critics have claimed that recent record warm temperatures measured in the U.S. are due to poor siting of a number of measurement stations. Even if true (and the best science we have says that these stations were actually reporting temperatures that were too cool), there is no way that measurement errors can account for the huge margin by which U.S. temperature records have been crushed during the past 12-month, 5-month, and 3-month periods."
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2115

[Cyclenall]

Some interesting insights on the quantifiable magnitude of what this Spring's warmth from Dr. Jeff Masters:

[i]"Spring 2012 in the contiguous U.S. demolished the old records for hottest spring and most extreme season of any kind, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Thursday. With the warmest March, third warmest April, and second warmest May, the March - April - May spring season was 5.2°F above average--the largest temperature departure from average of any season on record for the contiguous United States.

*Cut*

Each of the 12 months from June 2011 through May 2012 ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895-present record. According to NCDC, the odds of this occurring randomly during any particular month are 1 in 531,441. Thus, we should only see one more 12-month period so warm between now and 46,298 AD--assuming the climate is staying the same as during the past 118 years. The unusual warmth was due, in part, to a La Niña event in the Pacific that altered jet stream patterns, keeping the polar jet stream much farther to the north than usual. However, it is highly unlikely that the extremity of the heat during the past 12 months could have occurred without a warming climate.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2115

Dr. Jeff Masters is one of the few who actually tries to convey the magnitude of the insanity. I enjoy reading his updates on this and these latest stats are hard to wrap your mind around. The 1 in 531,441 speaks volumes...its like the made-for-TV "weather" movie Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006) .

[jinftl]

I agree... I am a groupie of all of Dr. Masters' discussions on climate and also on the tropics (and everything else under the sun...he covers it all)...he is level-headed and states the facts...he keeps the politics that can creep into data like he has presented below where it belongs...to those who are running for office in November!

Some interesting insights on the quantifiable magnitude of what this Spring's warmth from Dr. Jeff Masters:

[i]"Spring 2012 in the contiguous U.S. demolished the old records for hottest spring and most extreme season of any kind, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Thursday. With the warmest March, third warmest April, and second warmest May, the March - April - May spring season was 5.2°F above average--the largest temperature departure from average of any season on record for the contiguous United States.

*Cut*

Each of the 12 months from June 2011 through May 2012 ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895-present record. According to NCDC, the odds of this occurring randomly during any particular month are 1 in 531,441. Thus, we should only see one more 12-month period so warm between now and 46,298 AD--assuming the climate is staying the same as during the past 118 years. The unusual warmth was due, in part, to a La Niña event in the Pacific that altered jet stream patterns, keeping the polar jet stream much farther to the north than usual. However, it is highly unlikely that the extremity of the heat during the past 12 months could have occurred without a warming climate.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2115

Dr. Jeff Masters is one of the few who actually tries to convey the magnitude of the insanity. I enjoy reading his updates on this and these latest stats are hard to wrap your mind around. The 1 in 531,441 speaks volumes...its like the made-for-TV "weather" movie Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006) .