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Subscribe to RSSWe've seen an amazing, historic run of record warmth in March 2012. It's been the talk of towns from Minnesota and Michigan to Tennessee and Georgia for a couple of weeks now.
First, consider the sheer number of daily record highs either tied or broken over the past two weeks. The counts in the table below are courtesy of the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) since Mar. 9. Counts from Mar. 23 are still being tabulated and will be posted later.
| Day | # of Records |
|---|---|
| Fri. Mar. 9 | 101 |
| Sat. Mar. 10 | 105 |
| Sun. Mar. 11 | 189 |
| Mon. Mar. 12 | 138 |
| Tue. Mar. 13 | 218 |
| Wed. Mar. 14 | 460 |
| Thu. Mar. 15 | 662 |
| Fri. Mar. 16 | 496 |
| Sat. Mar. 17 | 565 |
| Sun. Mar. 18 | 586 |
| Mon. Mar. 19 | 510 |
| Tue. Mar. 20 | 710 |
| Wed. Mar. 21 | 575 |
| Thu. Mar. 22 | 295 |
If you pull out your calculator and add the numbers up from March 1 through March 22, the total exceeds 6,000! This speaks to the widespread nature and longevity of this warm spell. By the way, there have been only about 250 daily record lows during that same time, a ratio of roughly 24 record highs for every record low.
In a typical March, particularly in the nation's northern tier, you may see, perhaps, one or perhaps two days of record warmth before a sharp cold front brings that spring tease to a screeching halt. Not so in March 2012.
When considering monthly record highs, meaning the warmest temperature on record for the month of March, according to NCDC, there have been 430 such monthly record highs tied or broken!
International Falls, Minn., self-promoted as the "Icebox of the Nation", tied or broke daily record highs 12 of 13 days from Mar. 10-22. This includes a 79-degree reading on March 18, which was the warmest day ever recorded during March in International Falls.
Chicago, Ill., tied or set new daily record highs nine days in a row from March 14-22! In this streak, eight of the days were in the 80s, including an astounding 87-degree high on March 21. The National Weather Service in Chicago recently called the warm spell "historic" and something that is unlikely to be matched in our lifetime.
More top weather stories from weather.com
Wednesday, March 21, both Marquette, Mich., (81 degrees) and Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., (83 degrees) shattered their previous March record highs. In Marquette, it was their earliest-in-season 80+ degree day on record, breaking the old record by 22 days! Despite a shorter period of record in Marquette (records since 1961), that's still an amazing feat.
Thursday, March 22, Detroit, Mich., reached 86 degrees, setting an all-time record high for the month of March. The previous record was set just the day before. Prior to this March 2012 warm spell, the record was 84 degrees set in late March of 1945. If that wasn't enough, their 10-day streak with highs at least in the 70s was their longest such streak so early in the season, topping the previous record by over a month!
Plotted on the interactive map here are the many records set for various cities in this mild March. Zoom in on the map and click on the red locator icons to view the record-breaking information for each location. You will find many cities that have set records for the warmest temperatures so early in the season, monthly records or longest streaks of warm weather so early in the season.
Below is a map of temperature departures from average for the first three weeks of March. Notice the massive swath of much warmer than average air from the Rockies east (brown, red, orange shadings). Many spots are 10 to 15 degrees above average for the month so far!
Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis are all currently seeing their warmest March on record with only a handful of days to go in the month. Records date back to the 1870s in all of these cities.
NOAA/CPC
This shows temperature departures from average for the first 23 days of March 2012. The brown shadings show where temperatures have been most above average.
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Finally MSNBC is reporting just how extreme this weather spell has been. It's about time. I am sick and tired of the media ignoring the weather events, (other than tornados which make horror stories that the media likes). This heat event should scare the pants of of everyone. Al Gore has been right for a long time, but to all you Al Gore haters out ther-- AL GORE DID NOT INVENT GLOBAL WARMING!!!!! Global Warming has not been invented by anyone, it's a theoretical prediction about what could happen to the climate based on carbon dioxide release from burning carbon-based fossil fuel. The theory is being proven correct. Al Gore has been an activist about this, but he did not invent it, he just is worrying rather loudly about it, for good reason, it turns out.
Global Climate is driectly caused by our sun; fact! Even Al Gore's climate charts don't follow logically with any of his climate change claims, but match perfectly with erruptions of the sun, but he's too stupid to see it. I also remember all the Ice Age scare tactics of the 70; the global cooling scare. It's all about $$$; there's more more in climate scare tactics than any scheme ever thought of
I agree the Sun provides 99.99 percent of the heat, but to claim it is responsible for global warming is utter nonsense.
What matters is the amount of energy arriving at Earth from the Sun and there has been little significant change in the Suns overall energy output over the last several thousand years.
No, the most likely reason is due to mans burning of fossil fuels producing lots of Co2 which is throwing the metaphoric blanket around the earth.
See www.realclimate.org
" climate charts don't follow logically with any of his climate change claims, but match perfectly with erruptions of the sun"
that's simply untrue and you know it.
and europe, asia, and alaska have suffered a very hard winter. who knows maybe next year it will be reversed or normal. The idea that we have greater influence on temps than earths axis, solar output, or natural causes is arrogance. I saw something on discovery called frozen earth. Millions of years before mans carbon output the earth froze solid. How did it freeze? And how did it thaw without our influence? to funny!
How does the fact that the climate changes naturally mean that we can't affect it ALSO?
"And how did it thaw without our influence?"
From carbon dioxide. Hmmmm.....
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
"Ray M" covers his ears and says "blah,blah,blah,blah,blah".
And all of the other Tea Pot Taliban take up the chorus with their rendition of "Global Climate Change Is A Figment Of Your Imagination"....until they have to head to the TORNADO SHELTER.
The one truth of this entire situation is that it will not stop and we will all soon see just how bad it will be....good bye Miami, New Orleans, Low lying New York City, Washington D.C. and a lot of the rest of "coastal America"....
It does't take a rocked scientist to realize we are changing everything on earth, similar to smoking back in the early part of the last century. People knew smoking would ruin your game.. C'mon folks we are gong to need to do something for our kids sometime soon..
Use a calculator? Nah! I just copied and pasted it into Excel. Your total is wrong. It's 5,610. NOT 6000. ?????????? lol
I believe they left off the records for the first few days of the month for some strange reason.
to wowicantbelieveit
There will never be proof that global warming/climate change is happening or isn't. Science never delivers proof, only evidence. Just because there were over 6,000 record high temperatures in North America is not proof, just evidence. In the same vane I cringe when I read "I believe in global warming." Belief is for religion not for science. In science there is either sufficient evidence to convince you or not. And you must either understand the science behind claims or defer to the judgement to those who do. Those who understand this are economists or engineers or mathematicians, they are climotologists. If you want to make an informed conclusion seek out what they have to say based on the evidence they have amassed. A trustworthy source is the archives of
See: www.realclimate.org
Someone help me with this.......
If thermometers were invented in the 1700's, how did we measure the temps before that?
If we had no way to measure before thermometers, do we only have records since 1700's?
Phillykevin "For 650,000 years, atmospheric co2 has never been above 300parts per million…now it is around 390 in the 1950’s it was at 280 and around 180 in the 1930-1940’s…. “The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past” this from NASA web site please feel free to visit and read what it has to say …they have facts unlike faux no-news"
So, it was 180 in the 1940's, 280 in the 1950's.....and 390 NOW!
It only took ONE decade to increase 100 (1940's - 1950's)........then 6 MORE decades....until now to increase another 100???
At this rate, seems like it's slowing considerably.
Please provide a complete list of all weather stations that recorded new high temperature records. Please list the history of each station including how long the station has been in existence, whether the station has ever been relocated during its existence and whether the station meets the positioning guidelines set down by NOAA (less than 30% of stations have been found to be properly sited).
Why does this information matter? A short lived station might set a new record sooner (less history/fewer years of hot weather), if a station has been relocated you can't directly compare old readings with new ones, and siting problems can cause contamination due to UHI (Urban Heat Island effect). Many stations have had buildings and parking lots built closer to them over the years. Air conditioning units, cars and car engines, one even had a barbeque pit within a few feet of it can artificially raise temperature.
Last but not least is the fact that most of the Northern Hemisphere had a colder than normal winter. Over 600 people died from the cold in Europe, Russia and Asia. Just as NASA found that the heat wave that hit Russia a couple of years ago had no link to global warming/climate change this event in the United States will have no link to global warming/climate change.
But Global warming i a TOTAL MYTH RIGHT REPUBLICANS . da Da DUMB.....
Soon Republicans will try to buy scientist off to say there was actually never a Winter and only three seasons in the year.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/23/warm_period_little_ice_age_global/
BOTH sides of the AGW argument will discard new information that does not support their chosen outcomes. REAL science is always updating/contradicting itself.
For any one party to claim knowledge of the "truth" is disingenuous. Truth is of a static nature, by definition; it does not change. This is, unfortunately, contrary to reality, which is in a constant state of changing.
While it is true that such large numbers of industrialized humans have an effect on what would otherwise be the normal behavior of their environment. We truly do not know what that effect is. Nor do we really know what "normal" entails. We simply have not been paying attention for long enough.
We don't even know, REALLY, how much the population of the Earth has, or has not, grown in the last century. We've (earthlings) only actually been counting real populations for a very short time, and we still haven't come up with a way to standardize and collate that data. All I can say is that Americans, in general, are not much concerned with the big picture, and are VERY concerned with placing blame.
It sure is a good thing, though, that entities within the power structures of the world can so easily get us all to argue about silly constructs like republicans vs. democrats. Otherwise, we might have time to work together to solve the world's problems instead of being so distracted with blaming one another.
And one more thing: If nothing else, it is clear to me that there is no "solution" to the "problem" of global climate change. Things change. We adapt, or not. If we do, we go on. If we don't, we don't go on. Is it really so much better that we continue producing toxic plastics that later are "recycled" in a huge waste of energy and water? Or would it be a better idea to push for non-toxic, compostable materials...? We WILL change, or we WILL perish.
PS- I really wish people would stop saying "climategate." It just makes them sound like simpletons.
Science will win out in the end- it always does. You know why? Because it's TRUE. Lies can only be sustained for so long (think ozone and tobacco), I just sincerely hope it doesn't take 300 years like in the time of Galileo. That being said, I'm not convinced that cap and trade is the best solution. I'd like to look at alternative plans to control emissions.
The leaves are out, the flowers have bloomed(tulips,etc) I love it. Personally I have never seen leaves on trees here in Michigan this early, which means we will have leaves for 1 more month. Also have never been out at night in March in a pair of shorts and not freeze, amazing.
Same here on the other side of the Lake in Wis. Down side tho is had to mow lawn twice already. Oh well Ill take it as a trade off!
Very interesting article (although might have been written by Elaine Benes with all the exclamation points - Jake Jarmel would not approve:) ). Anyway, that was an unprecedented warm spell we had for a while, today back to normal temps for this time of year which is actually fine with me. Plenty of warm and hot weather to be had in the next few months.
I for one am not concerned with overpopulation or even pollution.
The next ice age/pandemic super disease should take care of that nicely. Whichever shows up first.
That has certainly been the case, historically. LOL
There will always be those in denial, Fear is at the heart of this. Unfortunately, those of us who "choose" to pay attention to nature in crisis find your ignorance reprehensible. After all we have suffered throughout the world with drought, extinction of animals due to climate change, Tornados, hurricanes, fires.....you would think there might be a light bulb going on around the world.
Unfortunately, I think we may be past the point of reckoning.
Mos of the old records are from 1889, 1910 to 1946, I guess it most have been globel warming back then too.
I believe the weather has cycles every 10 years something happen, 20 or 50 ears something else but no one menchons thos compairasenes.
Global warming: Its all in the book of life:GEN-9:22 and it is said that the earth and the heavens will ware out like a garment. The planet is just getting old,like everything else does.