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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate of 2000 - December Global Regional Analysis National Climatic Data Center, 12 January 2001

Latitude Time Series Temperature Bands

Climate of 2000: Annual Review Climate of 2000: December Detailed Climate Perspectives . . . Global Analysis Global Regional U.S. National U.S. Regional U.S. Drought Extreme Events 2000 Monthly Reports

The above image based on land and ocean surface temperatures gives a time series distribution of temperatures by latitude band. Surface temperatures within the tropics (20N-20S) in December were +0.23C above the 1880-1999 average. Temperatures in the Northern Extratropics (20N-90N) were slightly above average and noticeably cooler than warm December's of the 1990's. December 2000 in this band had the coolest positive anomaly (+0.19C) since 1985. Temperatures in the Southern Extratropics (20S-90S) were +0.56C above average, the third warmest on record.

Snow cover was widespread across the Northern Hemisphere this month. See the NOAA Eurasia Daily Snow/Ice Cover Movie Loop for December 2000 for information. Also, the National Weather Service/Climate Predictions Center produces a snow cover frequency map December - Northern Hemisphere . The frequency scale on the map (0-4) refers to the number of weeks during the month that the ground was snow covered. Additional details and global regional information are available in other sections of this report.

Due to problems with the ingest process of satellite data this month, the usual SSMI and blended temperature products are not available. This problem should be resolved in time to have these products available for the January 2001 report.

References:

Basist, A., N.C. Grody, T.C. Peterson and C.N. Williams, 1998: Using the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager to Monitor Land Surface Temperatures, Wetness, and Snow Cover. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 37, 888-911.

Peterson, Thomas C. and Russell S. Vose, 1997: An overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network temperature data base. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 78, 2837-2849.

For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division:

Climate Services Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue, Room 120
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: ncdc.orders@noaa.gov

For more information, refer also to ...
SSMI Derived Products
Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN)
The Blended GHCN - SSM/I Product
The Global Temperature Anomalies

Tom Ross
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4499
email: tom.ross@noaa.gov

Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: jay.lawrimore@noaa.gov

NCDC / Climate Research / Climate of 2000 / December / Search / Help