A few days ago I noted that April 2014 was one of the warmest Aprils on record. This morning, NOAA has released its data showing that April was actually a bit warmer than I had suggested.
NOAA has already stated that "The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces was the fourth highest for March on record, at 0.71°C (1.28°F) above the 20th century average of 12.3°C (54.1°F)" and "The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the January–March period (year-to-date) was 0.60°C (1.08°F) above the 20th century average of 12.3°C (54.1°F), the seventh warmest such period on record."
Moments ago, NOAA stated: "The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for April 2014 tied with 2010 as the highest on record for the month, at 0.77°C (1.39°F) above the 20th century average of 13.7°C (56.7°F)."
And, it has been tweeted:
JUST IN: Apr 2014 global temp ties for record highest per @NOAANCDC #StateOfClimate Rpt http://t.co/8j2efFOPus pic.twitter.com/wDmHFx4r9K
— NOAA (@NOAA) May 20, 2014
So, 2014 is turning out to be quite a warm year, and this is before the effects of a very likely El Ninño have kicked in (see also this for more on El Niño). Should the El Niño develop to a high level of intensity, as many think may happen, 2014 may end up being the warmest year in the instrumental record (going back to the late 19th century).
Jeff Masters has more here on Wunderblog.
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After that long and winter we had this year, It is crazy how our world can just turn around and then have one of the warmest month's ever on record. I would say we deserve this warm weather after that brutal winter we had this past year.
@Bryan: But the exceptional cold was limited to roughly the eastern 2/3 of North America. Areas between the Rockies and the Pacific, as well as most of Europe, had an unusually warm winter--no low-altitude frost in a region from southern England to northern Germany, a region which normally sees at least a few below-freezing days.
Bryan, sure, but it wasn't a long and cold winter for most people. IT was only long and cold (and dammit it is still cold many days!) in much of the Northern Hemisphere.
Oh, Eric, right, just saw your comment. What Eric said.
Here on the western edge of the Selkirk range we had quite a mild winter, although a bit more snow than the past couple of years. Late winter and early spring seems to be becoming the norm here now.
That was April. The past few days here have been unusually hot. Today it's expected to reach 28°C. To give some background: the May average for 1961-1990 was 10.8°C, and for 2001-2010, 11.4°C.
http://www.dmi.dk/service-menu/soeg/?id=82&L=0&tx_solr[q]=historisk+gen…
South-east Australia is experiencing a heatwave with temperatures 5°C above the norm.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/southern-australias-heatwa…
Heatwaves in Australia seem to be becoming the norm.