Contents of This Report:
Global Temperature
| As shown in the above
figure, global surface temperatures was above the long term average
in November. The combined land and ocean temperature anomaly was
+0.34C above the 1880-1999 long-term mean, which was the 10th
warmest. The ocean temperatures were +0.35C warmer than average and
tied for 6th warmest. The land anomaly, while above average, was
the coolest since 1993 and tied for 24th warmest. |
| The spatial
distribution of land surface temperature departures from normal
(November 2000 minus the 1961-1990 averages) for areas with
reporting stations available at the time of this report are shown
in the adjacent plot. Below average temperatures (blue dots) were
recorded throughout much of central North America, Siberia, and
eastern China. Above average temperatures (red dots) occurred in
most of central and eastern Europe, Alaska and Canada. Below
average temperatures were recorded in the southern Hemisphere
across parts of southern South America and northern Australia.
Above average temperatures were recorded over parts of central
South America and southern Australia. |
larger image |
| The largest positive
and negative anomalies were noted in several areas across the
globe. Temperatures in excess of 4C above average covered most of
Alaska, Canada and western and central Europe. Temperature
anomalies in excess of 4C below average were observed over the
western and central portion of the U.S., and central Siberia. |
Global Precipitation
larger image |
As shown in the figure
to the left, precipitation was above average throughout many areas
of the world. In the Eastern Hemisphere, wetter than average
conditions covered much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Indonesia
and eastern China and Taiwan. Much above average precipitation also
fell throughout parts of eastern Australia The above average
precipitaton led to serious flooding and loss of life across
Indonesia and Taiwan during the month. On the "Big Island", Hilo,
Hawaii on the east coast of Hawaii, reported 27.24 inches of rain
in a 24 hour period during the month with localized flooding. |
| Below average
precipitation fell across parts western Asia near the Black Sea,
Russia, and parts of interior southeast Asia. It was drier than
normal across the east and west coasts of the United States and
across portions of south Florida and the Caribbean. |
References:
Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global
Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol.
Soc., 78, 2837-2849.
NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
