The featured region in this month's analysis is the North American continent. June is a study in contrasts for this region. Frequent storminess and associated clouds and showers kept much of Canada and parts of the northeast U.S. cooler than average. The intermountain West was quite warm, with temperatures above the long term mean. In the central part of the U.S., frequent cold fronts brought clouds and precipitation which led to below average temperatures in an area from Texas northward across the Dakotas. Central Mexico was cooler than average while the Baja California peninsula was warmer and drier that usual.

Contents of This Report:

• European Temperature Anomalies
• European Wetness Product
• Asian Temperature Anomalies
• Asian Wetness Product
• African Temperature Anomalies
• Australian Temperature Anomalies

European Temperature Anomalies

A ridge of high pressure over southern Europe kept most of the region warm and dry this month. The largest positive anomalies, approaching 3 C, were noted in a small area in southeastern France. Additional warmer anomalies were noted over the northern part of the Ural mountains in eastern Russia.

Cool anomalies were observed over the Crimean peninsula, the Ukraine, and northward into parts of Scandinavia. The coolest anomalies approaching 4 C were noted in Russia near the Volga River basin and near the Baltic Sea.

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European Wetness Anomalies

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The same high pressure ridge which kept a large part of southern and central Europe warm also kept the region dry this month. These dry conditions are reflected in the negative wetness anomalies. An additional area of negative wetness anomalies was noted over western Siberia. The only area with substantial positive wetness values in June 2000 were near the Volga River basin which also experienced cool temperatures. Positive wetness values were also seen east of the Caspian Sea and in central Russia. Since precipitation is not always uniformly distributed across large regional areas in the summer, patterns of contrasting positive and negative wetness values are common.

Much of eastern India and southeast Asia had cloudiness with the continuation of the monsoon this season. This kept these regions near or slightly cooler than average. This pattern brought some relief to this region, which experienced very warm temperatures the last several months.

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The warm anomalies over northeast China and Mongolia were associated with a strong ridge of high pressure. This ridge kept the region dry and warm. The greatest anomalies, over 4 C, were observed over parts of Mongolia.

Asian Wetness Anomalies

Positive wetness anomalies were observed over parts of southeast Asia. These anomalies (departures from the 1992-2000 average) were associated with heavy rainfall in the region especially across Thailand and Myanmar. Positive wetness anomalies were also noted in the Ganges River Valley into Bangladesh.

Large negative (dry) anomalies were observed in parts of eastern India, southwest Asia and northeast China. Some of these areas continue to suffer from drought conditions.

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African Temperature Anomalies.

A ridge of high pressure over the Mediterranean region kept the northwestern part of the continent warm, with positive temperature anomalies in the 1-2 C range. In contrast, much of the rest of Africa had temperatures near or below the norm for June. This is similar to the pattern observed in May but quite the opposite was observed in April when much of the continent was warm.

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Australian Temperature Anomalies

Most of Australia had below average temperatures with widespread cool anomalies in the 3 C range. Cool air from the south was prevalent across much of the continent this month. The coolest anomalies were across northwestern Australia. See the Bureau of Meteorology- Australia for more information. Average to slightly above average anomalies were observed in southern New Zealand.

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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.

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

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