Climate Monitoring / Climate of 2005 / December / Global / Help

Climate of 2005 - December in Historical Perspective

National Climatic Data Center
13 January 2006

Global Analysis / Global Hazards / United States / U.S. Drought / Extremes
Use these links to access detailed analyses of Global and U.S. data.

Global Highlights:

Based on preliminary data, globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was 9th warmest on record for December 2005.
December temperatures were above average across much of the globe including Canada, the majority of the African continent, the U.S. Southwest, and parts of Siberia. Colder-than-average conditions occurred in the U.S. Southeast, western South America and parts of Asia.
Precipitation during December was above average in the Amazon Basin, the U.S. Northeast, and southeastern Asia, with drier-than-average conditions in the United Kingdom, eastern Australia and the southern U.S.
Conditions in the equatorial Pacific continued to trend toward a developing La Niña.

The data presented in this report are preliminary. Ranks and anomalies may change as more complete data are received and processed. The most current data may be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

Introduction

Temperature anomalies for December 2005 are shown on the two maps below. The dot map on the left provides a spatial representation of anomalies calculated from the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) data set of land surface stations using a 1961-1990 base period. The map on the right is an experimental blended product of a merged land air and sea surface temperature anomaly analysis which is based on data from the GHCN of land temperatures and the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) of Sea-Surface Temperature (SST) data. Temperature anomalies with respect to 1961-1990 for land and ocean are analyzed separately and then merged to form the global analysis. Additional information on this product is available.

During December 2005, temperatures were more than 3°C above average across large parts of Canada, Alaska, and the Middle East, parts of Siberia and the southwestern U.S. Cooler than average temperatures were observed in France, Japan, central Asia, the eastern U.S., and along the western coast of South America.

Warmer than average SSTs occurred over the North Pacific and North Atlantic. Cooler than average conditions were observed off the coasts of Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and in the Niño 3 region.

Current season's Land Surface Temperature Dot map

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Current season's blended Land and sea surface Temperature Dot map

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The mean position of upper level ridges of high pressure and troughs of low pressure (depicted by positive and negative 500 millibar height anomalies on the December 2005 map) are generally reflected by areas of positive and negative temperature anomalies at the surface, respectively. For other Global products see the Climate Monitoring Global Products page.

Images of sea surface temperature conditions are available for all weeks during 2005 at the weekly SST page.

Temperature Rankings and Graphics

Current Month / Year-to-date

December	Anomaly	Rank	Warmest Year on Record
Global Land Ocean Land and Ocean	+0.33°C (+0.59°F) +0.41°C (+0.74°F) +0.39°C (+0.70°F)	33rd warmest 8th warmest 9th warmest	1939 (+1.09°C/1.96°F) 1997 (+0.61°C/1.10°F) 1997 (+0.62°C/1.12°F)
Northern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean	+0.30°C (+0.54°F) +0.42°C (+0.76°F) +0.37°C (+0.67°F)	35th warmest 6th warmest 13th warmest	1939 (+1.61°C/2.90°F) 2004 (+0.57°C/1.03°F) 2003 (+0.65°C/1.17°F)
Southern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean	+0.06°C (+0.11°F) +0.38°C (+0.68°F) +0.32°C (+0.58°F)	55th warmest 9th warmest 13th warmest	1972 (+0.78°C/1.40°F) 1997 (+0.61°C/1.10°F) 1997 (+0.64°C/1.15°F)

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January-December	Anomaly	Rank	Warmest Year on Record
Global Land Ocean Land and Ocean	+0.91°C (+1.64°F) +0.44°C (+0.79°F) +0.58°C (+1.04°F)	2nd warmest 2nd warmest 2nd warmest	1998 (+0.97°C/1.75°F) 1998 (+0.47°C/0.85°F) 1998 (+0.62°C/1.12°F)
Northern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean	+0.96°C (+1.73°F) +0.51°C (+0.92°F) +0.69°C (+1.24°F)	2nd warmest warmest 2nd warmest	1998 (+1.02°C/1.84°F) 2nd - 2004 (+0.50°C/0.90°F) 1998 (+0.70°C/1.26°F)
Southern Hemisphere Land Ocean Land and Ocean	+0.67°C (+1.21°F) +0.40°C (+0.72°F) +0.45°C (+0.81°F)	2nd warmest 6th warmest 4th warmest	1998 (+0.77°C/1.39°F) 1998 (+0.47°C/0.85°F) 1998 (+0.52°C/0.94°F)

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The most current data may be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

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Precipitation

The maps below represent anomaly values based on the GHCN data set of land surface stations using a base period of 1961-1990. During December 2005, above average precipitation fell over areas that include the Amazon Basin, the Philippines, India, the western and northeastern U.S., and central Europe. Below average precipitation was observed in the Iberian Peninsula, South Africa, eastern Australia, Hawaii and from the U.S. southern Plains northward to the Great Lakes region.

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Percent Precipitation Dot map for December

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ENSO SST Analysis

Last week of the month's ENSO condtions Map

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SSTs were below average in the eastern equatorial tropical Pacific during December, indicating the possible development of La Nina conditions (shown in the adjacent animation of weekly sea surface temperature anomalies). A comprehensive summary of December 2005 ENSO conditions can be found on the ENSO monitoring page. For the latest advisory on ENSO conditions go to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the CPC ENSO Diagnostic Discussion
Images of sea surface temperature conditions are available for all weeks during 2005 at the weekly SST page

Troposphere

Current Month
Mid-tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature data are collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). An independent analysis is also performed by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and a third analysis has been preformed by Dr. Qiang Fu of the the University of Washington (UW) (Fu et al. 2004)**.

The table below summarizes mid-tropospheric conditions for December 2005. These temperatures are for the atmospheric layer centered in the mid-troposphere (approximately 2-6 miles above the Earth's surface) which also includes a portion of the lower stratosphere. (The MSU channel used to measure mid-tropospheric temperatures receives about 25 percent of its signal above 6 miles). For additional information on MSU data used in this report, please see the Microwave Sounding Unit page.

All datasets indicate December temperatures were above average. Records began in 1979.

December	Anomaly	Rank	Warmest Year on Record	Trend
UAH mid-trop	+0.01°C/0.02°F	13th warmest	1987 (+0.36°C/0.65°F)	+0.02°C/decade
*RSS mid-trop	+0.13°C/0.23°F	8th warmest	2003 (+0.38°C/0.68°F)	+0.10°C/decade
**UW-UAH mid-trop	+0.03°C/0.05°F	15th warmest	1987 (+0.43°C/0.77°F)	+0.10°C/decade
*UW-RSS mid-trop	+0.22°C/0.40°F	7th warmest	2003 (+0.49°C/0.88°F)	+0.16°C/decade

*Version 02_1

Stratosphere

Current Month
The table below summarizes stratospheric conditions for December 2005. The stratosphere is located between 10-14 miles above the Earth's surface. Over the last decade, stratospheric temperatures have been below average in large part due to the depletion of ozone. The large increase in temperature in 1982 was caused by the volcanic eruption of El Chichon in Mexico, and the increase in 1991 was a result of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. Therefore the base period used is 1984-1990 which was chosen to avoid contamination by these eruptions.

December	Anomaly	Rank	Coolest Year on Record
UAH stratosphere	-0.68°C (-1.23°F)	3rd coolest	2000 (-0.80°C/-1.44°F)
*RSS stratosphere	-0.61°C (-1.10°F)	3rd coolest	2000 (-0.71°C/-1.28°F)

*Version 02_1

For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in December, see the Global Hazards page.

References

Christy, John R., R.W. Spencer, and W.D. Braswell, 2000: MSU Tropospheric Temperatures: Dataset Construction and Radiosonde Comparisions. J. of Atmos. and Oceanic Technology 17 1153-1170.

Fu, Q., C.M. Johanson, S.G. Warren, and D.J. Seidel, 2004: Contribution of stratospheric cooling to satellite-inferred tropospheric temperature trends. Nature, 429, 55-58.

Mears, Carl A., M.C. Schabel, F.J. Wentz, 2003: A Reanalysis of the MSU Channel 2 Tropospheric Temperature Record. J. Clim 16, 3650-3664.

Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 2837-2849.

Quayle, R. G., T. C. Peterson, A. N. Basist, and C. S. Godfrey, 1999: An operational near-real-time global temperature index. Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 333-335.

Smith, T. M., and R. W. Reynolds (2005), A global merged land air and sea surface temperature reconstruction based on historical observations (1880-1997), J. Clim., 18, 2021-2036.

For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division:

Climate Services Division
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fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
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For questions about this report, please contact:

Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
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fax: 828-271-4328
email: Jay.Lawrimore@noaa.gov

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David Easterling
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email: David.Easterling@noaa.gov

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