State of the Climate Report -
National Climate Report
Global Climate Report
Regional Analysis
Continental Temperature Anomalies
Continental Temperature Anomalies for December 2018 are currently unavailable.
Regional Temperature Anomalies
Regional Temperature Anomalies for December 2018 are currently unavailable.
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.
Region Definitions
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
Upper Air
Wildfires
Addiontional Wildfires Links
- NOAA Fire Products
- U.S. Drought Monitor
- National Interagency Fire Center
- U.S. Forest Service Fire Maps
- Wildland Fire Assessment System
- Alaska Interagency Coordination Center
- Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center
El Niño/Southern Oscillation
Addiontional El Niño/Southern Oscillation Links
- ENSO Monitoring
- NOAA El Niño Observations Page
- NOAA El Niño / La Niña Index Definition
- NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL):
- NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC):
- NOAA's Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC)
- NASA/JPL Ocean Surface Topography from Space
- Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) ENSO Wrap-Up
- IRI - International Research Institute