State of the Climate Report -

Report: Year: Month:

National Climate Report

Global Climate Report

Regional Analysis

Continental Temperature Anomalies
Background
References

Continental Temperature Anomalies

Background Information

The July 2015 Global State of the Climate report introduces the regional analysis report, which focuses on the analysis of temperature anomalies for six continents: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

The regional values, similar to the global values, are derived from the NOAAGlobalTemp data set. The continental polygons are composed of the 5° x 5° grid points with center points in the respective continents. Then, in a similar way to the global analysis, the grid points are weighted by their area and averaged to compute a continental temperature anomaly time series. The anomalies are computed back to 1910, the approximate date by which all continents have station coverage sufficient to resolve values at the regional scale.

This regional analysis complements the global analysis by allowing us to understand and describe the state of an important climate indicator across a continent. It also helps to place the current continental temperature anomalies into historical perspective, displaying how the most current month, season, or year compares to the past.

Please note that all continental anomalies are with respect to the 1910—2000 average.

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.
Huang, B., V.F. Banzon, E. Freeman, J. Lawrimore, W. Liu, T.C. Peterson, T.M. Smith, P.W. Thorne, S.D. Woodruff, and H-M. Zhang, 2015: Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature Version 4 (ERSST.v4). Part I: Upgrades and Intercomparisons. J. Climate, 28, 911-930.

Global Hazards

Please note: Material provided in this report is chosen subjectively and included at the discretion of the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). The ability to report on a given event is limited by the amount of information available to NCEI at the time of publication. Inclusion of a particular event does not constitute a greater importance in comparison with an event that has not been incorporated into the discussion. Data included in this report are preliminary unless otherwise stated. Links to supporting information are valid at the time of publication, but they are not maintained or changed after publication.

National Snow & Ice

Synoptic Discussion

Note: This Synoptic Discussion describes recent weather events and climate anomalies in relation to the phenomena that cause the weather. These phenomena include the jet stream, fronts and low pressure systems that bring precipitation, high pressure systems that bring dry weather, and the mechanisms which control these features — such as El Niño, La Niña, and other oceanic and atmospheric drivers (PNA, NAO, AO, and others). The report may contain more technical language than other components of the State of the Climate series.

Tornadoes

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

Drought

Global Snow and Ice

Beginning in November 2017, NCEI will use version 3 of the National Snow and Ice Data Center's (NSIDC) monthly sea ice extent index. All historical monthly sea ice extent values will be updated to version 3, but historical reports will not be updated. For additional information on the methodology changes and comparisons to version 2, please visit the National Snow and Ice Data Center.