[Vision2020] NCDC: May 2011- April 2012 Warmest US Year Since 1895

[Ted Moffett]

Though it is tempting to link this warmest US year in the most recent May
though April period to anthropogenic climate change, the US, including
Alaska, Hawaii, only represents about 1.9 percent of total global surface
area, including all oceans and land;  the contiguous US is only about 1.5
percent.  However, the following list of "Ten Warmest 12-month periods for
the Contiguous US" from the NCDC is a bit more compelling, given they all
date from 1999 through 2012:
http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/cmb/images/us/2012/apr/12monthperiods.png
The odds of that happening by natural climate variability, rather than
increasing climate forcing from increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 from
human sources, might be rather low, unless identifying a natural
variable(s) increasing its impacts over the past 12 years.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/national/2012/4Summary
Information
April 2012 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National
Climatic Data Center
U.S. temperatures for April third warmest on record

*Past 12 months and first third of the year were warmest nation has
experienced*

Several warm periods across the contiguous U.S. during April brought the
national average temperature to 55°F, 3.6°F above average, marking the
third warmest April on record. These temperatures, when added with the
first quarter and previous 11 months, calculate to the warmest year-to-date
and 12-month periods since recordkeeping began in 1895.

The 12-month period of May 2011-April 2012 has a nationally-averaged
temperature 2.8°F above the 1901-2000 long-term average, while the
January-April 2012 months were 45.4°F, 5.4°F above the long-term average.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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