Major Highlights
NOAA REPORTS THIRD WARMEST SPRING ON RECORD FOR U.S.
DRYNESS RE-EMERGES FOR SOUTHEASTERN STATES
All nine climate regions of the contiguous United States were warmer than average in spring (March-May) 2004, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C. The Southeast and parts of the West were unusually dry during spring, but precipitation was above average in the Great Lakes region. The global average temperature was 4th warmest on record for March-May.
NOAA scientists report that the average temperature for the contiguous United States for March-May (based on preliminary data) was 54.7�F (12.6�C), which was 2.9�F (1.6�C) above the 1895-2003 mean, the 3rd warmest spring on record. Florida was the only state in the contiguous United States with a near-normal temperature. The mean temperature in thirty states was much above average, including Oklahoma and Kansas, which had their warmest spring on record. An additional seventeen states were warmer than average. Alaska was also warmer than average for spring with a statewide temperature of 2.7�F (1.5�C) above the 1971-2000 mean. However, May was the warmest on record for the state of Alaska with a temperature of 4.7�F (2.6�C) above the mean.
Precipitation averaged across the contiguous United States was near average for spring, with much of the West and Southeast drier than normal. Wetter than average conditions occurred in parts of the Deep South and Northeast, as well as much of the Great Lakes region, with Michigan having its wettest spring on record. The East North Central region (consisting of states from Minnesota and Iowa, east to Michigan) had its second wettest spring on record. Dryness re-emerged in parts of the Southeast in marked contrast to a much wetter than average year for much of the region in 2003.
Severe storm outbreaks in May led to several deaths from tornadoes and significant storm damage in parts of the Midwest and South during May. A preliminary estimate of tornado numbers from NOAA''s Storm Prediction Center suggests approximately 500 occurred during the month. A record tornado tally of 543 was recorded in May 2003.
Dry conditions in the Southeast during spring allowed moderate drought to re-emerge in parts of the region with some modest agricultural impacts beginning to be felt. Below average spring precipitation also occurred in many areas of the West where drought has persisted for much of the past four to five years. The drier than average conditions, along with warmer than normal temperatures that contributed to rapid snowmelt, left mountain snowpack levels below average in most parts of the West. Reservoir levels also remained below average in many areas, and at the end of the spring 67% of the western United States was in moderate to extreme drought, based on a widely used measure of drought, the Palmer Drought Index. The most extensive drought on record for the West occurred in July 1934, when 97% of the region was in moderate to extreme drought.
Globe:
The average global temperature anomaly for combined land and ocean surfaces during March-May 2004 (based on preliminary data) was 1.0�F (0.6�C) above the 1880-2003 long-term mean. This was the 4th warmest boreal spring since 1880 (the beginning of reliable instrumental records). Land surface temperatures were anomalously warm throughout most parts of the world, while ocean surface temperatures in much of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific were near average as the neutral phase of ENSO (El Nino/Southern Oscillation) continued. The global ocean surface temperature was 5th warmest on record for March-May.
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