Major Highlights
NOAA REPORTS DECEMBER WARMER THAN AVERAGE,
WHILE MAJOR WINTER STORMS AFFECT MIDWEST, SOUTH.
GLOBAL TEMPERATURE WARMER THAN AVERAGE
The nationally averaged temperature was above normal for the contiguous United States this past December, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(s (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C. While much of the western half of the nation was warmer than average, a brief period of very cold temperatures and heavy snowfall occurred in the Midwest and parts of the South, where temperatures averaged near the long term mean (1895-2003). The global average temperature for December was 5th warmest on record. NOAA is part of the Department of Commerce.
NOAA scientists report that the average temperature for the contiguous United States for December (based on preliminary data) was 35.7�F (2.1�C), which was 2.2�F (1.2�C) above the 1895-2003 mean. This was the 23rd warmest December on record. The mean temperature in 16 states was above average, with all but one (NH) of these states being west of the Mississippi River. Three western states (MT, WY, NE) were much warmer than the long-term mean, while only two states in the contiguous United States (MS, LA) were cooler than average for the month. The relatively warm temperatures for the nation led to below normal heating degree days and below average residential energy demand.� The nation�s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index was the 35th lowest on record for December.� The December temperature ranking of 23rd warmest is close to that for all of 2004, which ended as the 24th warmest year on record.
Alaska was warmer than average for December with a statewide temperature of 4.5�F (2.5�C) above the 1971-2000 mean. The year as a whole was much warmer than average, ranking as the 4th warmest since statewide records began in 1918.
December precipitation was near average for the nation as a whole, however dryness in the central U.S. balanced above average wetness in the Southwest and Northeast. The last several months of 2004 as well as the year as a whole were much wetter than average, with the year ending as the 6th wettest on record. The latter half of 2004 ranked 2nd wettest for any July-December in the last 110 years, partly as a result of multiple landfalling tropical systems and also as a result of much above average rain and snowfall in areas of the Southwest.
The wetter-than-average conditions in parts of the West in 2004 helped alleviate drought that has been entrenched for more than 5 years in some western locations. Although hydrological deficits still remain in much of the West, moderate-extreme drought affected only 10 percent of the western U.S. at the end of December, based on a widely used measure of drought, the Palmer Drought Index. This compares to 69 percent in March of 2004 � the peak of the 2004 drought.
After a relatively slow start to the 2004 winter season for parts of the country, a major snowstorm affected much of the Midwest in late December causing major disruptions throughout the region. Some cities in the Midwest received more than their annual average snowfall in a single day. Residents in cities such as Paducah, KY and Evansville, IN had snow totals well in excess of a foot with over two feet being reported in places such as Scottsburg, IN, and across a large area of the western Ohio Valley. Snowfall was also recorded in Brownsville, TX for the first time since February 1895, with 1.5 inches falling on Christmas Day. Further north, Victoria, TX received over a foot of snow from the same storm, a record for the city.
Globe:
The average global temperature anomaly for combined land and ocean surfaces during December 2004 (based on preliminary data) was 0.85�F (0.47�C) above the 1880-2003 long-term mean. This was the 5th warmest December since 1880 (the beginning of reliable instrumental records). Although land surface temperatures were anomalously warm throughout Europe, Scandinavia and western North America, cooler-than-average conditions were widespread across eastern and northern Canada, as well as much of Asia. Weak El Nino conditions persisted into December with sea-surface temperatures in much of the central and east-central equatorial Pacific remaining warmer than average for the month, and the December global ocean surface temperature was 2nd warmest on record. The warmer than average December concludes another much warmer than average year for the globe: 4th warmest since 1880.
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