NOAA05-075 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: John Leslie 6/15/05 |
NOAA
News Releases 2005 NOAA Home Page NOAA Public Affairs |
SPRING
BRINGS MIXED BAG OF TEMPERATURES FOR U.S., This spring, cooler-than-average temperatures prevailed throughout much of the eastern U.S., according to scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. However, for the contiguous United States, temperatures between March through May were warmer than average, especially in western and north-central states. Drier-than-average conditions were widespread from the south-central U.S. to the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic. The global average temperature was the second warmest on record for March-May. U.S.
Temperatures: U.S.
Precipitation: Above average spring precipitation in much of the Southwest followed an unusually wet winter for the region. But in the Northwest, where this was the second wettest spring on record, the above-average rain and snowfall helped lessen drought conditions that worsened during an extremely dry winter. Moderate-to-extreme drought (as defined by a widely used measure of drought – the Palmer Drought Index) affected 41 percent of the Northwest (Wash., Ore., Idaho, Mont., Wyo.) at the end of spring, compared to 63 percent at the end of winter. Although this reflects a significant improvement, severe long-term precipitation deficits remain. Snowpack, one of the major sources of water for the region, was less than 50 percent of average during much of spring across large portions of the northwestern United States. Global
Temperatures: Note
to Editors: A digital version of the press release, including links
to data, graphics and analysis, in addition to further national and
global data are online at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2005/may/may05.html |