Beyond the Data Blog

Just a few days ago, on January 26th, 2017, we saw something in the U.S. climate that we hadn’t seen since March 2011. Well, technically, we didn’t see something, I guess. For the first time since March 2011, there was no D4, “exceptional drought,” anywhere in the United States, as analyzed by the U.S. Drought Monitor. The last vestige of D4—the most severe category in the monitoring system—disappeared from its southern California holdout, part of a larger pattern of substantial mid-January drought improvements in California. (note: it is always difficult to describe drought improvements as “improvements” knowing they came, as they often do, with the price tag of major flooding and…   Read article

Looking back on Earth’s global temperature over the past three years...2014: record warm—wow! 2015: record warm—wow!! 2016: record warm—holy cow!!! In 2016, the annual global temperature reached a record high for the third year in a row, a remarkable occurrence rarely seen in the 137-year NOAA record and one not seen since the streak of record warmth (at the time) of 1939, 1940, and 1941. Those years, which ranked as third warmest, second warmest, and warmest, respectively, in 1941, now rank as 64th, 50th, and 38th warmest today. But back to the current streak…how did this happen? If you guess long-term climate change—Yes! If you guess El Niño—Yes! Also correct. If you guess sup…   Read article

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) tracks U.S. weather and climate events that have great economic and societal impacts (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions). Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 203 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index, as of January 2017). The cumulative costs for these 203 events exceed $1.1 trillion. The year 2016 was an unusual year, as there were 15 weather and climate events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States. These events included drought, wildfire, 4 inland flood events, 8 severe storm events, and a tropical cy…   Read article

In this edition of Beyond the Data, we’ll look back at 2016 and identify some of the most meaningful climate and weather events from the year. First, the disclaimers This is not a “top five” list of the biggest weather and climate events of the year. There are plenty of those running around. It’s simply one climate scientist’s view about selected important climate happenings of 2016, and why they speak to our understanding and experience with long-term climate. Warmest year (probably) on record, globally. What happened: It was another important year for what is perhaps the most overused climate change indicator out there: globally-averaged surface temperature. This metric is v…   Read article

Drought has erupted in the Southeast United States in recent months, and emerged in the central plains in recent weeks. Forest fires have dotted the Southern Appalachians. Areas not directly threatened by the fires have dealt with the downstream consequences. Many places—including here in Asheville—have seen an almost uninterrupted run of air quality alerts. My part of the country now faces some of the same challenges many Californians have been battling for several years. How we got there The short version of how we got there, and this isn’t meant to sound flippant, is that it’s been dry and warm.   Take a look at October’s “percent of normal” precipitation map. The darke…   Read article