Nicola Scafetta Comments on “Solar Trends And Global Warming” by Benestad and Schmidt
Attention any other searchers for climate data and/or information:
Google is an excellent tool, and the Googling Monkeys here at the Climate Capitol have been using it since well before there was a CapitalClimate. However, sometimes it can be a little frustrating to click on a search result and not get what you're really looking for. If that's the case when you end up here, please ask your climate data question as a comment to this post, and we'll do our best to find you the answer, or point you to a possible source if we can't find it.
To kick things off, here's a question via Yahoo search from Kennewick, Washington:
"what is the all time record high temperature in wenatchee wa"Sorry you couldn't find the answer directly when you came to the site a little while ago, but here's some data from the National Weather Service based on the last 50 years (apparently the full period of official records there):
Highest Daily Maximum Temperature (degrees F)
Days: 1/1 - 12/31
Length of period: 1 day
Years: 1959-2009
Rank Value Ending Date
1 109.0 8/4/1961
2 108.0 7/27/1998
3 107.0 8/1/2009, 7/23/2006, 7/22/1994, 7/19/1979, 8/3/1961
8 106.0 7/26/1998, 7/18/1960
10 105.0 7/28/1998
Posts
10 comments:
I'm trying to find the average temperature by month of Austin,Tx in the years 1998-1999 and 2008-2009
You can find monthly and annual average temperatures for Austin from the National Weather Service back to 1854 here (pdf file).
I'm also trying to find the average annual temperature of Maryland, Massachusettes, Conneticut,New Jersey, New Hampshire, Main, Rhode Island, DC and Vermont during the year of 2004.
THanks for all your help
The Northeast Regional Climate Center has tables of averages by state. On the left, under Data Options, select "annual" under Time Frame, then the year, and click "go".
I'm trying to find the DAILY precipitation amounts for December 2009 and January 2010. I found it "somewhere" in November, but am not having any luck. I need it by counties or airport in Virginia.
I have a few climate related questions and I was hoping maybe you can point me in the right direction...
1. The global temperature charts always seem to be in departure from average (+0.2, +0.4, etc.). Is the average temp 13.0C?
2. There seems to be some controversy about the temperature record... are the satellite measurements accepted as the gold source?
3. Is there a source with an official/consensus projection of future temps based on climate models?
Not enough time to properly address this tonight, will try to get to it tomorrow.
Sorry for the delay in response.
1. Yes, global temperatures are generally expressed in departures from average, since that eliminates the variations based on location and seasons. The overall global average is about 15°C (59°F).
2. As with any measurement of a large and complex system, each method of measurement has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of satellite measurements is that they cover the entire globe, but they have only been available for a few decades. They are also measuring temperature by looking downward through the entire atmosphere, so there are various physical assumptions necessary to derive the temperature at the surface. These can affect the accuracy.
3. There are many model projections. Although they disagree on the specific details, they agree on the general trend. The most comprehensive synthesis of the available data is the one done by the IPCC in their latest report. See figure SPM.5 in the Summary for Policymakers. The range of results depends on the differences between models and the various input assumptions.
Thanks a lot... I'm in no rush for answers so please answer at your convenience! Obviously temperature varies throughout the year at individual locations, but globally does it balance out? That is January is as warm as July, etc?
That's a good question. Since the total amount of sunlight reaching the Earth is almost the same all year, you might think the global average temperature would be the same for each month. (Actually, there is a small seasonal variation in sunlight since the Earth is a little closer to the Sun during Northern Hemisphere winter.) However, water retains heat much more efficiently than land, and there's more land in the Northern Hemisphere, so global average temperatures are actually higher in July than January. Here are the monthly and annual averages from the National Climatic Data Center:
Global Land Sea
Jan 53.6 37 60.5
Feb 53.9 37.8 60.6
Mar 54.9 40.8 60.7
Apr 56.7 46.5 60.9
May 58.6 52 61.3
Jun 59.9 55.9 61.5
Jul 60.4 57.8 61.5
Aug 60.1 56.9 61.4
Sep 59 53.6 61.1
Oct 57.1 48.7 60.6
Nov 55.2 42.6 60.4
Dec 54 38.7 60.4
Annual 57 47.3 60.9
Notice that the annual average is a little lower than the average I quoted earlier, which was from a popular meteorology textbook.
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