California Temperatures For First 1/2 Of 2014 4.8F Above 20th Century Average
California just finished the hottest first half year on record, a period going back 120 years, according to the national climate overview for June released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The statewide average temperature for the period was 58°F, or 4.8°F above the 20th century average. That bests the previous warmest January-June in 1934 by 1.1°F — a substantial difference, said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist with NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.
The record exemplifies a temperature pattern that has held across the country for much of the year, with above-average temperatures in the West and below average in the East. The pattern has kept monthly average temperatures for the entire U.S.—as well as the average temperature for the year-to-date—in the middle of the pack record-wise, but has contributed to the stunning drought that has propagated across California.
And though temperatures across the U.S. as a whole haven’t set any records this year, the global average has been a different story. The year through May was the fifth warmest on record, according to NOAA data, which ranked May as the warmest on record, as did NASA and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Preliminary NASA data suggests that June 2014 will come in as the third warmest June on record, while the JMA ranks it as the warmest in their temperature records. (Different agencies process temperature data using slightly different methods, but the differences between rankings are very small.)
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/california-sets-sizzling-record-for-2014-so-far/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciam%2Ftopic%2Fglobal-warming-and-climate-change+%28Topic%3A+Global+Warming%29