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Subscribe to RSSLast year was one for the history books, as a long-term warming trend brought two record highs for each record low between 2000 and 2010. And even more concerning, in the past year there were five record highs for each low recorded. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
If you found yourself bundling up in scarves, hats, and long underwear less than usual last year, you weren't alone: 2012 was the warmest year on record in the contiguous United States, according to scientists with The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.2 degrees above normal and a full degree higher than the previous warmest year recorded -- 1998 -- NOAA said in its report Tuesday. All 48 states in the contiguous U.S. had above-average annual temperatures last year, including 19 that broke annual records, from Connecticut through Utah.
“We’re taking quite a large step,” said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, which has recorded temperatures in the contiguous U.S. for the past 118 years.
It was also a historic year for "extreme" weather, scientists with the federal agency said. With 11 disasters that surpassed $1 billion in losses, including Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Isaac, and tornadoes across the Great Plains, Texas, and the Southeast and Ohio Valley, NOAA said 2012 was second only to 1998 in the agency's "extreme" weather index.
A long-term warming trend for the U.S., combined with drought and a northerly jet stream, led to the record heat, explained Crouch.
"During the winter season, the jet stream tended to stay further north of the U.S.-Canadian border, so that limited colder outbreaks in the country. It also limited precipitation. So that led to a warm and dry winter season, and that persisted through the spring," he said.
Matt Rourke / AP file
People play in water from an open fire hydrant during the afternoon heat on July 18, 2012, in Philadelphia. July was the hottest month ever on record in the contiguous U.S.
"That warm and dry spring and winter laid the groundwork for the drought we had this summer... . When we have drought, it tends to drive daytime temperatures upward."
The unprecedented warm weather wasn't contained to the United States.
A corresponding rise in global temperatures prompted the World Meteorological Organization to call the rate at which the Arctic sea ice was melting "alarming" in its Nov. 28, 2012, report.
“The extent of Arctic sea ice reached a new record low. The alarming rate of its melt this year highlighted the far-reaching changes taking place on Earth’s oceans and biosphere. Climate change is taking place before our eyes and will continue to do so as a result of the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which have risen constantly and again reached new records,” World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said.
Each year since 2001 has been among the warmest on record worldwide, with 2012 likely to "be no exception despite the cooling influence of La Niña early in the year," the report added.
'Horrible' sea level rise of more than 3 feet plausible by 2100, experts say
Watch NBC's special coverage of the 2012 drought
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NOAA expects to have global data for 2012 sometime in the coming weeks, but Crouch said scientists already know with certainty "it's going to be in the top ten" warmest years ever.
Adding to the extremes: 2012 was the driest year on record for the U.S., with 26.57 inches of average precipitation -- 2.57 inches below average. Those dry conditions created an ideal environment for wildfires in the West, which charred 9.2 million acres -- the third highest amount ever recorded, NOAA said Tuesday.
Other notable climate activity from 2012:
- Snowpack totals across the Central and Southern Rockies were less than half normal.
- July was the hottest month ever on record in the contiguous U.S.
- Tornado activity was concentrated toward the beginning of the season, with large outbreaks in March and April in the Ohio Valley and Central Plains, but the final 2012 tornado count will likely be less than 1,000 -- the least since 2002. "The factors behind that are kind of related to what was going on with the drought. We didn't have these large storm systems moving through the country, so that limited precipitation, and that also limited severe weather outbreaks," Crouch said. What made this year so high on the extreme weather index were cyclones, hurricanes, and the heat, he said.
- Alaska was cooler and slightly wetter than average, and had a record-cold January. "Their January temperatures were 14 degrees below average. Many locations in Alaska had temperatures 30 degrees below zero," Crouch said, adding that Anchorage, Alaska, set a new snow record.
- Hawaii experienced growing drought conditions, with 47.4 percent of the state experiencing moderate-to-exceptional drought at the beginning of 2012 and 63.3 percent at the end of the year. Alaska and Hawaii were not included in the bulk of NOAA's 2012 report because of terrain issues, and because scientists don't have records dating back as far as states in the contiguous U.S.
While NOAA made no meteorological forecasts for 2013, Crouch said the drought was going to continue to be an issue.
"The drought got a lot of attention this summer when it was having impacts on agriculture. More than 60 percent of the country is still in drought," he said. "And if things don't change, the drought is going to continue to be a big story in 2013."
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Awwww geesh here we go AGAIN all the “climate Change” Liberal nutballs are going to eat this story up with a spoon!
We all know there AIN’T NO SUCH THING as “Climate Change” because John Boehner, Louie Gomer and the rest of the Republi-tards told us so! Heck there were even Dumb Fuks News (aka “The Mentally Challenged Channel) analysts agreeing with them right on the air! By the way you may want to note these were the same “professional analysts” that were telling their listeners “Keep send those checks in to support Mitt Romney, and don’t you worry He’s gonna win by a Landslide!!! Hahahahahaha ! Any of that BullSh!t Sound familiar Dumb Fuks News Professional Analyst, Mr. Dick Morris?!?!?
Republi-Dumbs ALWAYS good for a laugh!!!
OMG!! God must of fell asleep again, and left his creation in the hands of Al Gore to fix it, I heard he is being handsomely paid though driving around in his carbon burning jet to fix the climate problem, so all is well folks, God should wake up from his nap anytime now, okay? Don't panic
Awwww geesh here we go AGAIN all the “climate Change” Liberal nutballs are going to eat this story up with a spoon!
We all know there AIN’T NO SUCH THING as “Climate Change” because John Boehner, Louie Gomer and the rest of the Republi-tards told us so! Heck there were even Dumb Fuks News (aka “The Mentally Challenged Channel) analysts agreeing with them right on the air! By the way you may want to note these were the same “professional analysts” that were telling their listeners “Keep send those checks in to support Mitt Romney, and don’t you worry He’s gonna win by a Landslide!!! Hahahahahaha ! Any of that BullSh!t Sound familiar Dumb Fuks News Professional Analyst, Mr. Dick Morris?!?!?
Republi-Dumbs ALWAYS good for a laugh!!!
The climate is always changing there PHD. 12,000 years ago the USA was under a sheet of ice over a mile thick.
Go back even further and we find the whole planet was a big snow ball.
Next the oldest ice on earth is only 1 million years old.
Oh well "the sky is falling" gang need stuff to worry about.
No dumber that hitting the post button twice.
Your an idiot!
...and what the hell does that got to do with the price of eggs??
Hey, re 3438394? Is that your prison number?
confused with your theory about repub dumb ass? is Al Gore a repub? or just a dumb ass?
Brenda, before you accuse someone of being an idiot, you would do well to study some remedial English. For starters, you should learn the difference between your and you're.
Dont you just love them? The ones who on one hand want us to teach creationsism in our shcools and on the other hand they pull out a scientific study that seems to support their position...
You see the pretzel logic with a discussion of the time the earth has been around versus man and civilized man...that there bible you use is in direct odds with the scientific facts about the earth...I have rocks in my yard older than many of you even think they earth has been around..and your biblical arguments get even less real the more you look a those science things like plants animals and humans...science trumps religious ignorance every time...
Maybe you should get out of the forest once and while. The earth has been warmming up for the past 12,000 years now.
I'm an athiest and I don't believe in Global Warming. And I know plenty of religious people that do. What's your point?
To paint with a ridiculously large brush? You're over-generalizing in the extreme. Global Warming isn't science -- it's Political Science -- and when "scientists" delete, hide, or distort data that doesn't fit their agenda-driven preconceived notions, they're no longer participating in science -- they're participating in politics.
Consensus doesn't equal science. 500 hundred years ago there was a consensus that the earth was flat and that you'd sail off the end of it if you went too far. Not that it matters anyway, but there is no consensus among scientists about Global Warming.
And the trend among them is trending away from man-made GW. Why? Because more and more are witnessing the data manipulation going on, and at some point an ethical scientist must do the right thing and walk away.
you forgot or maybe didn't hear of the carbon study they did after Mt. St Helens, blew up in Washington, it appears that right after they were able to take carbon samples of the dead debris it was dated at being millions of years old? wow. Just happened months ago and our intelligent scientist theory dates the incident happened millions of years ago, according to their carbon testing methods, of course you didn't hear about that, because they didn't want you to hear about that.
Loved it, Summers were cooler than average and spring and Fall were warmer than average meaning that my heating bill was smaller than average and my wallet liked that. Of course the authors of this article would be happy with me spending an arm and leg heating the house.
2012 warmest year ever.... Shouldn't that read warmest year on record?
Who knows how hot is was 300 years ago, I mean we have only been able to measure temperature sence around 1724.
And these are the same people that told us back in the 70's we were headed into another ice age.
Good point. 5 billion years ago, the temperatures were MUCH hotter. I have not heard anyone say that the earth is going to melt or implode, but climate change is going to effect a lot of humans this century. Unfortunately it's not likely we're going to be able to do a lot about this as CO2 levels are going to remain elevated even if we curb emissions drastically. In the end, we're just going to have to adapt. Slowing the growth of CO2 is still a reasonable goal, but it may not be terribly practical unfortunately.
gee, I wonder who was around 5 billion years ago to confirm all this? You won't even believe in well documented proof that Jesus walked this earth a mere 2,000 years ago!
And yet we continue to spend resources and money to maybe curb global warming. I'd rather see that money spent on ways to help survive global warming now, then trying to put into effect some plan that may help in 30 to 60 years time. If we don't plan for survival now, then we are going to have skyrocketing prices for staple foods in the very near future.
you must stop driving your carbon emitting car immediately, get yourself a bicycle and head off to work 6 hours early to get there on time, thanks for doing your part on saving the planet, you know God is tired and had to take a nap, but not to worry before he laid down he told Al Gore to handle the problem, will you do your part to help?
Ya, it is a balmy 28 degrees in Detroit and Chicago.
And all those people in shorts on New Years eve at Times Sqaure.
Idiots have taken over our media and country.
If Obama, Reid and Pelosi would stop with all of that hot air they are blowing then maybe temps would return to normal.
So, NBC, which is part of the Obama administration, and Obama administration "scientists" say global warming is real. Must be true! More corruption! More fake green jobs! More communism! More poverty and suffering! More misery and welfare! More oppressive government! Yay! If you put 100 people in a room and they all tell the same lie, it becomes truth to them! Obama supporters are truly insane!
It's called P.M Perceptive Management, they use it all the time, it is used in war, and science and what ever fills their needs. Perceptive Management is telling a lie, and downloading so much information, and deception about a particular subject that the non-informed are too lazy to dig for the truth and except it at face value,
We can't teach reality to those brain-washed by Rush, Fox Entertainment News, or the one Republican climatologist, who Republicans use to push their agendas of greed, scorched earth, and war!
Republicans march to different drummers, lead by Koch and Boehner!
nope!
did you think of that all by your little self, or did Chris Matthews tell you that??
Good thing we have Fox News to set us straight. Just keep on burning that coal a-holes.
Coal?? has nothing to due with coal, or gas, or oil. Just love all you Al Gore greenies.
Just how much coal was being burn 12,000 years ago? you know when the last ice age came to and end and the earth started to warm up.
Dinosaurs farted more green house gases than coal will ever produce. That did not take them out, and it will not take us out either.
ho-lee-cow,
Do you know what an accelerating trend is and when the CO2 concentration rise and temperature rise began accelerating to rates not seen before in the geological record?
Publius,
The average global temperature during the Age of Dinosaurs was approximately 12 Deg C warmer than now. Are humans equipped to survive with a climate that warm?
hey according to you guys the world has been around for 50 to 100 billion years, why do you think it is gonna end now, because AL Gore told you so??? stupid is as stupid does. If you are so concerned you better put away your carbon creating auto, and start riding a bike, have you noticed all the new bike lanes appearing on all new highway construction? Part of the program, or you in the program?
Get educated! The is bull and the government knows it. What better way to control people than to tell a bunch of drones they are killing the earth? ()
You also want to disarm them. But that is in the works as well.
All of you tree hugging Hypocrites are burning electricity, gas and a lot of hot air.
Strange, I live in the central valley in California and 2012 was one of the coolest summers I have ever experienced. No air conditioning required for most of the summer. 2011 was very cool also. The heavy fog had virtually disappeared around 2000. It is now back.
And how is that going for you? Stockton broke, tent cities from Los banos to Bakersfield. The Agriculture industry dried up all right. But not from any so called green house effects. Obama shut off the water to the centeral valley. Why? To save a guppy, the river smelt.
Always remember, when scientists sounded the alarm, "W" fired them. Enough said.
Who got fired?
"Not even God can sink this ship."
Welcome aboard the Titanic.
As a side-note, record cold has killed hundreds of people in Russia and it's happening as we speak.
But here's the cool part about Big Al's carbon-derivative trading scheme. See, global warming couldn't explain things like record cold (and notice this is the 48 contiguous states - Alaska did have a record cold June this past year.) So they changed the term to climate change - which fits a lot more nicely - because now, the only defense you could possibly have against climate change carbonazis would be absolutely average perfect weather all the time. Anything - too cold, too hot, too wet, too dry - all that can be blamed on "climage change."
And then Goldman Sachs and the other financial giants create a carbon derivative trading scheme - this is where they create more pieces of paper that are intrinsically worthless but government regulation will make them valuable. They buy, sell, trade all of this paper in the name of saving the environment.... and they do it not only under the noses of decent people - but with the encouragement of citizens that believe that these money-junkies really do care about the environment.
And this is a great wedge issue - almost as good as abortion. Get us simpletons to argue ideology about things that don't really matter, and they'll keep screwing us while we're not paying attention.
Those guys are good.........d*mn it.
Well that settles it .......Think I'll go jump off a bridge .........into some nice cool water .........Then I'm going home.......
We should have done something about climate change in 2002 and in 1992 and in 1982, but the GOP energy companies blocked even talking about it then.
Now it is too late and if something isn't done now, 2022 may be the year of having to think about abandoning the planet.
These changes are happening exponentially. Exponential is be a good word for us all to understand before we have to live exponential climate changes.
Learn what exponential climate change is.
Why 2022 ? Cuz it sounds cool ? How about 2222 ......Then we can leave.....It sounds cooler
Or maybe .222 - sounds even cooler!
If the heat keeps up the US is the bread basket of the world. If that goes away you going to find out how the people in Africa feel there will be allot of hungry people. The world has only been populated with humans a very small percentage. The world has gone through several catastrophes that would of wiped us out, if we were around. Yes, it was be natural, but by pumping carbons in the atmosphere does not help the natural process. The government is only doing feel good programs and still only concerned about one thing the Almighty Dollar! It is up to us to be more responsible with our planet or our children could go through some hell after were gone. The central part of the US was a dust bowl at one time and could very well be on it's way again on a greater scale. For those of you who are skeptics please get your head out of your a@@! I find most people are too lazy to recycle, it too much bother to separate trash, or stop being so wasteful. It starts with us and we outnumber the government.
Stated as if you can only grow in the US. Maybe Iceland becomes the next breadbasket?
Oh, and the dust bowl was mainly the result of antiquated plowing methods.
It can happen from drought too idiot!
Thanks for the gratuitous insult. Makes you appear so knowing. . .
Warmest ever????
What was the average temperature in 1477, 1566, 1741, 1812?
I agree the summer was hotter than normal here but the winter was miserable with below zero temps for the first time in 20 years.
There is much evidence from the past that shows the earth goes though cycles of drought to wet periods. Ask any geologist about these cycles. It has happened hundreds possibly thousands of times. Back in the 80s they said we were headed for another ice age. There was a article on NBC today about a ancient sea monster that swam where Utah is now. It was wet and much of North America was covered in water. There is also proof of droughts. This is just the cycle of the earth and will continue to happen.
The temperature of the earth with continue to change. Look at the evidence.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are freezing their butts off.
Yet again, the intellectually incapacity and immaturity of the left on full display. Hot year for the US. COLDEST ever for Russia and Eastern Europe. Alaska, ALL of Alaska has cooled nearly 3 degrees over the past DECADE. That's HUGE. Same with the Yukon, but the leftist religion cannot be challenged by facts, so they'll pretend like a regional temp is the same as global temps.
The most comprehensive study to date came out in December and concluded NO GLOBAL TEMP INCREASE over the past 16 years, but liberals don't care. This is a religion to be based purely on faith.
Hey libs. What's the temp of the earth supposed to be.
Hey libs. Show me a SINGLE piece of technology that can adjust the global temperature ONE degree EITHER way.
Here's the lib answer to EVERYTHING. Taxes. Here's how it works. You're one of those evil do'ers who likes to live in a temperature controlled environment and read by the light from an electric light source, you evil bastard you.
o you pay a carbon tax.
The gov't gives the money to a welfare recipient who spends it at a strip club
Global temperatures go down.
YOU LIBERALS ARE IDIOTS of an epic level. How many FALSIFIED studies will you keep trying to produce, how much data suppression? NASA keeps altering its OWN data from years ago.
Heck, they are now claiming the average earth temp is 14 C after DECADES of saying it was 15 C because they can't show an increase in temps, but you knuckle dragging brainstem thinking mouth breathing liberals keep living in reality. Pay the tax, change nothing, crucsh the economy then worry about how to fix global COOLING once this solar cycle, THE ONLY thing shown to correlate with earth temps, diminishes after 2013.
I think I agree with you, but your post is too long.
Joemike404 - "I'm not being paid a dime and here's the question. The "records" in question go back to 1850 - 162 years. The earth is 4.5 BILLION years old. How on earth (pun intended) can you make inferences that mean a damn thing for a 4.5 BILLION year old planet based on 162 years of data. To categorically state that the warming trend is based on human factors alone is unscientific, unsupported and blatently stupid."
I'm glad you're not being paid, because you're a moron. No one capable of thinking is saying humans are the SOLE cause of warming. No one who can think is saying the Earth has never warmed before. What's been said for years now is humans are ACCELERATING the process. The fact it has happened before is pert of the concern as well, because it has contributed to major ecological and evolutionary changes, changes that take centuries.
It's like being hit by a car. If a car has an hour to go a mile, it'll hit you rather subtly. If a car has a minute to go a mile, it'll kill you when it hits you.
Anyone who says we haven't had more disasters, more extreme weather and that it hasn't gotten worse every year is either blind or stupid. Period. There are no longer exceptions to this.