Climate of 2001
November in Historical Perspective

National Climatic Data Center, 14 December 2001

Global Highlights:

• *Global average land and sea surface temperature was the warmest on record for November and tied for warmest for the boreal fall (September-November)
• Lower tropospheric temperatures were warmer than average for November and for boreal fall
• Temperatures in the lower stratosphere were cooler than average
• During September-November, above average precipitation was most notable across Argentina, Taiwan and the U.S. Gulf Coast, with below average precipitation across the northeastern U.S., India and the western Mediterranean region

Contents of this Section:

• Introduction
• Global Temperatures
• Global Precipitation
• Microwave Sounding Unit Data

Introduction

Using a 1992-2001 base period as shown in the adjacent blended temperature product of satellite and in-situ data, anomalous warmth during the period September-November in the Northern Hemisphere was closely correlated to the location of upper level ridges of high pressure. These ridges of high pressure (depicted by positive 500 millibar height anomalies) were centered near the Canadian-U.S. border as well as Siberia into Mongolia and China. Temperature anomalies calculated from in-situ station data using a 1961-1990 base period also show the warmer than average temperatures in these regions with cooler than average temperatures restricted to much of Australia and Argentina. Similar temperature distributions were present during November.

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Temperature

Although neutral ENSO conditions were present in November, the global land and ocean temperature was the warmest in the 1880-2000 record and was 0.64°C (1.15°F) above the long-term average (0.51°C / 0.92°F above the 1961-1990 mean) Temperatures averaged across land areas were also warmest on record, or 1.07°C (1.93°F)above the long-term November mean

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Based on data available at the time of this report, the global average land and ocean temperature for boreal fall (September-November) was 0.57°C (1.03°F) above the 1880-2000 mean which ties with 1997 as warmest (0.46°C / 0.83°F above the 1961-1990 mean) During September-November, land temperatures were the warmest on record (0.79°C /1.42°F above average) while ocean temperatures were second warmest (0.47°C / 0.85°F above average)

Temperatures averaged across the Northern Hemisphere were also warmest on record for the period September-November, or 0.67°C (1.21°F) above the 1880-2000 mean, eclipsing the old record set during the El Niño fall of 1998

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Precipitation

Much above average precipitation fell across northern Argentina and along the U.S. Gulf Coast Drier than average weather prevailed across the northeastern U.S. as well as India and the western Mediterranean region An active tropical weather season boosted rainfall totals to much above average from southern Japan to Taiwan, with much drier conditions arriving by November

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Microwave Sounding Unit Data

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Fall temperatures in the lowest 8km (5 miles) of the troposphere were 0.10°C (0.18°F) above average Lower tropospheric temperatures in November were above average (0.13°C / 0.23°F)

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September-November temperature was below average in the lower stratosphere, with a departure of -0.34°C (-0.61°F) This was the 9th consecutive November with below average stratospheric temperatures (-0.38°C / -0.68°F)

  For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in June see the Global Regional page .
*Based on preliminary data available at the time of this report.

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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