National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationJune - AugustGlobal Analysis National Climatic Data Center, 15 September 2000 |
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| The June-August 2000 combined land and ocean temperature was +0.35C above the 1880-1999 long-term mean. The globally averaged temperature during this period has not averaged below the long-term mean since 1976, indicative of a trend to warmer global temperatures that began in the late 1880's. June-August temperatures have risen at a rate of +0.42C per century since 1880. Ocean temperatures were also much above average during this period (+0.28C), the 7th warmest such period on record, while land surface temperatures were the 9th warmest, +0.51C above average. |
| The adjacent plot shows the spatial distribution of temperature anomalies throughout the world based on a 1961-1990 base period. Above average temperatures were widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere during the June through August period. Temperatures were from 1 to 3C above average in southern Europe and the Mediterranean in an area stretching from Portugal to Turkey. |  larger image |
| Temperature anomalies in excess of 1C also covered much of central Russia, Mongolia, and eastward across northern China and Japan. In North America, above normal temperatures were observed in the western U.S. and much of Canada. Near-normal to below normal temperatures stretched from the northern Great Plains to the northeastern U.S. Parts of Scandinavia, western Russia, Argentina, and Australia also recorded near to below-normal temperatures during the June through August period. |
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Data collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by NASA and the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville indicate that temperatures in the lower half of the atmosphere (lowest 8km) were near the 20-year (1979-1998) average during the June-August season. |
| The global average continued to be influenced by anomalously cold temperatures in the tropics (20N-20S), which can partially be attributed to the continuation of below-normal sea surface temperatures in the equatorical Pacific as the cold phase of ENSO (El Nino/Southern Oscillation) persisted throughout the June-August period. While temperatures in the northern Extratropics (90N-20N) were the 6th warmest on record (0.21C above the 20 year average), temperatures in the tropics were -0.40C below average, the second coldest June-August season since satellite measurements began in 1979. |
Precipitation  larger image |
The adjacent plot shows precipitation departures for the June through August period as a percent of the 1961-1990 averages. Drier than normal conditions were predominant throughout the world. Rainfall was more than 20% below average throughout most of Canada, northwestern and southern areas of the U.S., Australia, and much of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Drought and excessive heat plagued parts of the southern and western U.S. as well as the Balkans throughout much of the boreal summer (June-August). |
References:
Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 2837-2849.
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