CLIMATE: The new 'normal' is warmer -- NOAA (07/01/2011) The 30-year "normal" temperature in the United States is about a half degree Fahrenheit warmer than it was in the 1970s, according to a report released today by the country's top climate agency.
"The climate of the 2000s is about 1.5 degree Fahrenheit warmer than the 1970s, so we would expect the updated 30-year normals to be warmer," said Thomas Karl, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center. Scientists use the 30-year baseline to understand climate conditions and trends. The data are also used by businesses subject to weather's whims, including utilities, which use it to project energy use, and farmers deciding when and which crops to sow. Because the 30-year moving averages overlap, the change in temperature in the new data suggests that this past decade was significantly warmer than the 1970s, said Kevin Trenberth, a senior climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "It means a lot of global warming is being built into the new normals," Trenberth said (Ashlie Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, June 30). -- AS -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
