July Heat Wave Was The Hottest On Record
July 2012 was the hottest month on record. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration the average temperature across the Lower 48 was 77.6 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.3 degrees above the 20th-century average.
The new record is slightly higher than the 1936 record, edging out that years temperature average by two-tenths of a degree.
July also helped make the first seven months of 2012 the warmest of any year on record as well as the driest time period to date. The new 12 month record tops the previous mark set from July 2011 through June 2012.
The record was helped along by warmer-than-average temperatures in every Lower 48 state except Washington.
High temps have wreaked havoc on most states, causing drought and drought-like conditions. According to CNN:
“The high temperatures have contributed to a “rapid expansion” of drought across the central United States, NOAA found. Dozens of cities and towns already have seen the mercury hit record levels this summer, and three states — Nebraska, Kansas and Arkansas — saw record dry conditions between May and July.”
According to the Wall Street Journal the southwest was hit the hardest in terms of sheer heat with Arizona and Nevada regularly reaching triple digits.
The hottest temperature recorded in 2012 was 128 degrees on July 12.
According to NOAA figures 62.9% of the contiguous U.S. experienced moderate to exceptional drought by the end of July 2012.
With the record heat waves sweeping across the United States farmers have watched as their corn and soy bean crops have taken a drastic hit, enough for some analysts to predict a 4% food price increase by the end of the year while costing farmers and the farm industry as a whole billions of dollars.
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Aug 9, 2012
Lies, damn lies and statistics.
You say "Record Temperatures" but what you FAIL to mention is that the record is only by 0.2°F and the previous date is during the 1936 dust bowl. That's a mere two tenths of a degree which is well within the margin of error.
Stop being an alarmist. Shame on you.
Aug 10, 2012
Preach it brother!!!!! (Pisses me off too)
Aug 10, 2012
The (lack of) sunspots was supposed to be sending us into a new 'little ice age'. Instead it seems that the best the sunspots can do is make it no worse than the 1930s.
Meanwhile, the Northwest Passage opened for the sixth year in a row, after being closed since before Henry Hudson was born.
The arctic sea ice, and the southern species moving into New England don't lie. And none of them have gotten the memo about how it's not getting warmer. Geese overwintered here for the first time in history. There have been orioles in Fitzwilliam for decades. I had them here in Marlow this year.
Aug 11, 2012
Thing is, if one looks back in the geologic record New England was once covered by deep ice sheets. Everything died. Then the ice receded. Very gradually life crept north. That was global warming and it was a good thing. Global warming brought diversity. Previous to the ice it was warm and diverse. Global cooling produces mass extinctions. Global warming produces diversity. This is how it has been. Looking back the record shows things used to be a lot warmer. People are just used to the current temperature and sea levels. Things change. That is life. The bad part is alarmists are using global warming and climate change to distract people from the real problems like war and toxic pollution.
Aug 12, 2012
As a New England farmer, I am totally psyched to be in zone 5 instead of zone 4. An extra month of growing season is a massively big deal.
I will not however tolerate hearing Ron Paul claim that the Pittsburgh he grew up in did not exist, or that acid rain was not a big flippin' deal here in New England until the Clean Air Act kicked some coal burning butt.
I went to college in Pgh before there was an EPA. The air stank of sulfur and there was soot on everything. Compensation? ROFL. I moved to Taxachussets and bought a house where I heard the peepers every spring. Until they put in the tall stacks and I didn't hear the peepers any more. Compensation, ROFL Clean Air Act, whaddya know, I've got peepers again.
I wouldn't actually have a beer with the Sierra Club board of trustees. But I would happily shove most of the other side into a wood chipper. Many of them feet first.