May 2009 Fourth Warmest on Record

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported on Monday that May 2009 had the fourth warmest global average temperature in 130 years of data. Most land areas were above average in temperature, with the warmest readings relative to average in Alaska, Iceland, the western contiguous U.S., and much of Europe and Asia.

Cooler-than-average regions included New Zealand, Canada, and parts of western and central Asia and Australia. Large portions of Canada were 2-5°C (4-9°F) below average.

Sea surface temperatures were above average over most of the oceans; the notable exceptions were parts of the northeastern Pacific and central Atlantic.

Precipitation patterns during May were generally mixed, according to NCDC:

During May 2009, above-average precipitation fell over areas that included southeastern Asia, the southeastern contiguous U.S., northeastern Brazil, east central Australia, and parts of Russia, northern Europe, and northern India. Drier-than-average conditions were present across the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska's panhandle, the central U.S., northeastern South America, southern Europe, eastern Asia, and most of Australia.

Images (click to enlarge): May global temperature departures from average since 1880, May 2009 land and sea surface temperature departures, May 2009 precipitation departures, all from NOAA/NCDC