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Global Highlights:
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Contents of this Section: |
| The data presented in this report are preliminary. Ranks and anomalies may change as more complete data are received and processed. The most current data may be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page. |
The two maps below use anomalies that were calculated from the
Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) data set of land
surface stations using a 1961-1990 base period. During the boreal
winter, there were above average temperatures across Scandinavia,
Europe, western Russia, much of Africa, South America, China,
Australia, and the majority of North America. Cooler than average
temperatures covered much of central Asia, Spain, Algeria, and
northeastern Canada. During February, there were above average
temperatures over the entire continent of North America, southern
Africa, Argentina, Scandinavia and northern Siberia and cooler than
average temperatures across the Iberian peninsula, Mongolia, most
of West Africa and Kazakhstan. |
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The mean position of upper level ridges of high pressure and troughs of low pressure (depicted by positive and negative 500 millibar height anomalies on the February 2005 and the December 2004 - February 2005 maps) are generally reflected by areas of positive and negative temperature anomalies at the surface, respectively. For other Global products see the Climate Monitoring Global Products page. |
| Images of sea surface temperature conditions are available for all weeks during 2005 at the weekly SST page |
|
| Current Month / Seasonal / Year-to-date |
| February | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.35°C (+0.63°F) +0.42°C (+0.76°F) +0.40°C (+0.72°F) |
34th warmest 2nd warmest 9th warmest |
1998 (+1.60°C/2.88°F) 1998 (+0.52°C/0.94°F) 1998 (+0.85°C/1.53°F) |
| Northern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.27°C (+0.49°F) +0.43°C (+0.77°F) +0.37°C (+0.67°F) |
47th warmest 2nd warmest 17th warmest |
2002 (+1.99°C/3.58°F) 1998 (+0.54°C/0.97°F) 1998 (+1.09°C/1.96°F) |
| Southern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.34°C (+0.61°F) +0.44°C (+0.79°F) +0.42°C (+0.76°F) |
18th warmest 7th warmest 5th warmest |
1983 (+0.902°C/1.62°F) 1998 (+0.55°C/1.00°F) 1983 (+0.60°C/1.08°F) |
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| December-February | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.63°C (+1.13°F) +0.46°C (+0.83°F) +0.51°C (+0.92°F) |
8th warmest 2nd warmest 4th warmest |
2002 (+1.07°C/1.93°F) 1998 (+0.56°C/1.01°F) 1998 (+0.70°C/1.26°F) |
| Northern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.57°C (+1.03°F) +0.50°C (+0.90°F) +0.53°C (+0.94°F) |
16th warmest 2nd warmest 6th warmest |
2002 (+1.33°C/2.39°F) 1998 (+0.55°C/1.00°F) 1998 (+0.78°C/1.40°F) |
| Southern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.70°C (+1.26°F) +0.43°C (+0.77°F) +0.48°C (+0.86°F) |
3rd warmest 5th warmest 5th warmest |
1983 (+0.73°C/1.31°F) 1998 (+0.57°C/1.03°F) 1998 (+0.60°C/1.08°F) |
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| January-February | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.68°C (+1.22°F) +0.45°C (+0.81°F) +0.52°C (+0.94°F) |
10th warmest 2nd warmest 7th warmest |
2002 (+1.46°C/2.63°F) 1998 (+0.53°C/0.95°F) 1998 (+0.74°C/1.33°F) |
| Northern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.66°C (+1.19°F) +0.47°C (+0.85°F) +0.55°C (+1.00°F) |
17th warmest 2nd warmest 7th warmest |
2002 (+1.89°C/3.40°F) 1998 (+0.54°C/0.97°F) 2002 (+0.97°C/1.75°F) |
| Southern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean |
+0.68°C (+1.22°F) +0.45°C (+0.81°F) +0.49°C (+0.88°F) |
2nd warmest 6th warmest 5th warmest |
1983 (+0.76°C/1.37°F) 1998 (+0.55°C/1.00°F) 1998 (+0.57°C/1.03°F) |
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The maps below represent anomaly values based on the GHCN data set
of land surface stations using a base period of 1961-1990. During
December 2004 - February 2005, above average precipitation fell
across parts of Alaska, the Great Lakes region of the U.S., Japan
and South Africa. Below average precipitation was observed in the
Pacific Northwest and southeastern region of the U.S., the majority
of Australia, western Europe, Thailand, and most of Brazil. During
February, above average precipitation fell in southeastern China,
southwestern U.S., Bolivia, eastern Europe and northern Mexico,
while below average precipitation was observed in Australia,
Indonesia, southern portions of Brazil and the Pacific Northwest of
the U.S. |
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|
|
Current Month / Seasonal |
| February | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAH mid-trop | +0.18°C/0.32°F | 5th warmest | 1998 (+0.65°C/1.17°F) |
| *RSS mid-trop | +0.32°C/0.58°F | 4th warmest | 1998 (+0.71°C/1.28°F) |
| **UW-UAH mid-trop | +0.27°C/0.49°F | 5th warmest | 1998 (+0.80°C/1.44°F) |
| **UW-*RSS mid-trop | +0.42°C/0.76°F | 5th warmest | 1998 (+0.86°C/1.55°F) |
| *Version 02_1 |
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| December-February | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAH mid-troposphere | +0.12°C/0.22°F | 8th warmest | 1998 (+0.44°C/0.79°F) |
| *RSS mid-troposphere | +0.27°C/0.49°F | 5th warmest | 1998 (+0.50°C/0.90°F) |
| **UW-UAH mid-troposphere | +0.21°C/0.38°F | 6th warmest | 1998 (+0.59°C/1.06°F) |
| **UW-*RSS mid-troposphere | +0.36°C/0.65°F | 5th warmest | 1998 (+0.63°C/1.13°F) |
| *Version 02_1 |
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| Mid-tropospheric and lower stratospheric
temperature data are collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting
satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by the Global
Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of
Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). An independent analysis is also
performed by Remote Sensing
Systems(RSS) and the University of Washington. **An adjustment on both the RSS and UAH datasets provided by Fu et al. (2004) (University of Washington) is accomplished by deriving separate weighting coefficients for the MSU T2 and T4 over the tropics (30N to 30S), northern and southern hemispheres, and for the global mean by fitting radiosonde troposphere anomalies to radiosonde-simulated T2 and T4 anomalies over the period from 1958-2004 as T850-300 = a0 + a2*T2 + a4*T4 where T850-300 is the radiosonde 850-300 hPa layer; T2 and T4 are the radiosonde simulated MSU brightness temperature anomalies; and a0, a2, and a4 are the coefficients derived from this linear regression. |
Current Month / Seasonal |
| February | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAH stratosphere | -0.35°C (-0.63°F) | 8th coolest | 1983 (+1.17°C/2.11°F) |
| *RSS stratosphere | -0.33°C (-0.59°F) | 12th coolest | 1983 (+1.03°C/1.85°F) |
| *Version 02_1 |
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| December-February | Anomaly | Rank | Warmest Year on Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAH stratosphere | -0.44°C (-0.79°F) | 9th coolest | 1983 (+1.20°C/2.16°F) |
| *RSS stratosphere | -0.36°C (-0.65°F) | 10th coolest | 1983 (+1.07°C/1.73°F) |
| *Version 02_1 |
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| Mid-tropospheric and lower stratospheric
temperature data are collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting
satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by the Global
Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of
Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). An independent analysis is also
performed by Remote Sensing
Systems(RSS) and the University of Washington. |
| For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in February, see the Global Hazards page . |
Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global
Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol.
Soc., 78, 2837-2849. |
For questions on technical or scientific content of this report, please contact:
Ahira Sánchez-Lugo:For general climate monitoring questions, please contact:
CMB.Contact@noaa.govFor climate data orders, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services and Monitoring Division:
NCDC.Orders@noaa.gov
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/index.php
