Thursday, May 15, 2014

Second-highest April temps ever, says GISS

Data here. Top was 2010, but that was an El Nino year, and we're not quite there yet.

5 comments:

Bernard J. said...

In my (Southern Hemisphere) corner of the world the weather this week has been quite bizarre.

We've had four days and nights of temperatures so mild that it's like late spring rather than late autumn, and yesterday was the hottest for this time of May since 1896 - the temperature reach 24°C compared to an average daily maximum of 14.5°C. In fact last night's minimum was 15°C, half a degree over the mean maximum and 7°C over the mean minimum. The three nights preceeding were about as warm - or warmer...

Further, the Bureau has already stated that this will be the hottest late autumn week since 1939, even though the interval is not yet complete.

And decent rain has been noticable absent for about six months - we're efectively in a green drought, so the impending El Niño looks likely to be getting a good leg-up.

Adam said...

JMA has 2014 as the warmest April on record:

http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/gwp/temp/apr_wld.html

Nick Stokes said...

Bernard J. said...
"In my (Southern Hemisphere) corner of the world the weather this week has been quite bizarre."

Sounds like you're near Melbourne, where I am. Yes, it's amazing, isn't it. We've just had the 11th day over 20°C, and forecast 23 today. Tomorrow a mere 19. A month before midwinter.

bill said...

Adelaide has also been extraordinary - great weather for working out in our nursery, but kind-of unnerving, nonetheless.

Bernard J. said...

Nick, I'm just across the ditch.

It has been an extraordinary autumn. Some of my hazels varieties started their spring bud-burst in mid-late April and are still going (which means that they'll lose their leaves in winter and be slow to recover when spring really comes), and a friend who has a Tibetan mastiff has had it start shedding its new winter coat - a process which usually occurs in spring. The poor dog is apparently quite unsettled.

And frosts are over a month late. Good frosts usually (or rather, used to) come around Anzac Day, but it's still so warm at night that we don't even need any heating.

If this keeps up the pome, stone and berry orchardists here are going to suffer badly from lack of chill hours.

The only people here who deny that it's warming are recent arrivals from Queensland who don't have any idea of what the weather is usually like for this time of year.