Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
America's New Normal: A Degree Hotter Than Two Decades Ago
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
May 8, 2021

Share

America’s new normal temperature is a degree hotter than it was just two decades ago.

Scientists have long talked about climate change — hotter temperatures, changes in rain and snowfall and more extreme weather — being the “new normal.” Data released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put hard figures on the cliche.

The new United States normal is not just hotter, but wetter in the eastern and central parts of the nation and considerably drier in the West than just a decade earlier.

‘The New Normal’

Meteorologists calculate climate normals based on 30 years of data to limit the random swings of daily weather. It’s a standard set by the World Meteorological Organization. Every 10 years, NOAA updates normal for the country as a whole, states and cities — by year, month and season.

Meteorologists in the U.S. use temperature datasets spanning 30 years to calculate temperature normals. The U.S. normal annual temperature is now 53.3 degrees Fahrenheit. (AP News)

 

For the entire nation, the yearly normal temperature is now 53.3 degrees (11.8 degrees Celsius) based on weather station data from 1991 to 2020, nearly half a degree warmer than a decade ago. Twenty years ago, normal was 52.3 degrees (11.3 degrees Celsius) based on data from 1971 to 2000. The average U.S. temperature for the 20th century was 52 degrees (11.1 degrees Celsius).

The new normal annual U.S. temperature is 1.7 degrees (0.9 Celsius) hotter than the first normal calculated for 1901 to 1930.

“Almost every place in the U.S. has warmed from the 1981 to 2010 normal to the 1991 to 2020 normal,” said Michael Palecki, NOAA’s normals project manager.

Fargo, North Dakota, where the new normal is a tenth of a degree cooler than the old one, is an exception, but more than 90% of the U.S. has warmer normal temperatures now than 10 years ago, Palecki said.

In Chicago and Asheville, North Carolina, the new yearly normal temperature jumped 1.5 degrees in a decade. Seattle, Atlanta, Boston and Phoenix had their normal annual temperature rise by at least half a degree in the last decade.

Charlottesville, Virginia, saw the biggest jump in normal temperatures among 739 major weather stations. Other large changes were in California, Texas, Virginia, Indiana, Arizona, Oregon, Arkansas, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina and Alaska.

A helicopter drops water while battling the River Fire in Salinas, Calif. Fire crews across the region scrambled to contain dozens of blazes sparked by lightning strikes during a statewide heat wave. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

 

Warmer Weather Due to the Burning of Fossil Fuels

New normals are warmer because the burning of fossil fuels is making the last decade “a much hotter time period for much of the globe than the decades” before, said Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald.

For Phoenix, the biggest change in normal came in precipitation. The normal annual rainfall for Phoenix dropped 10% down to 7.2 inches (18.2 centimeters). Rainfall in Los Angeles dropped 4.6%.

At the same time, Asheville saw a nearly 9% increase in rainfall, while New York City’s rainfall rose 6%. Seattle’s normal is 5% wetter than it used to be.

A member of the North Carolina Task Force urban search and rescue team wades through a flooded neighborhood looking for residents who stayed behind as Florence continues to dump heavy rain in Fayetteville, N.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

 

Climate scientists are split about how useful or misleading newly calculated normals are.

Mahowald and University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado said updating normal calculations helps city and regional planners to prepare for flooding and drought, farmers to decide what and when to plant, energy companies to meet changing demands and doctors to tackle public health issues arising from climate change.

But Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann said he prefers a constant baseline such as 1951 to 1980, which is what NASA uses. Adjusting normal every 10 years “perverts the meaning of ‘normal’ and ‘normalizes’ away climate change,” he said in an email.

North Carolina’s state climatologist Kathie Dello said, “It seems odd to still call them normals because 1991-2020 was anything but normal climate-wise.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Caitlin Clark and Iowa Draw Nearly 5 Million Viewers for Second-Round NCAA Win

DON'T MISS

Canadian School Boards Sue Snapchat, TikTok and Meta for Disrupting Students’ Education

DON'T MISS

California Law Enforcement Agencies Obstruct Transparency Efforts in Use-of-Force Cases

DON'T MISS

No Police Charges for Taylor Swift’s Dad Over Paparazzi Incident in Sydney

DON'T MISS

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

DON'T MISS

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

DON'T MISS

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

No data was found

Shohei Ohtani Reaches 3 Times in Home Debut as the Dodgers Rout the Cardinals 7-1

16 hours ago

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

17 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

17 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

17 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

17 hours ago

How Involved Is Southern California Consulting Firm in FUSD Executive Dealings?

17 hours ago

Biden’s Fundraiser with Obama and Clinton Nets a Record $25 Million, His Campaign Says

18 hours ago

Fresno Unified’s Self-Protection Racket Is Hurting Our Kids

18 hours ago

Rockin’ Out or Laughing, the Valley Has Its Pick of Weekend Events

19 hours ago

Ex-Correctional Officer at Women’s Prison in California Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Inmates

21 hours ago

Here’s a Look at the Firm Helping Fresno Unified Select Its Next Superintendent

A consulting firm that says it is the largest of its kind is helping Fresno Unified find a new superintendent. With a $40,000 contract in ha...

21 mins ago

21 mins ago

Here’s a Look at the Firm Helping Fresno Unified Select Its Next Superintendent

PGA HOPE at Fresno's Riverside Golf Course
15 hours ago

PGA HOPE at Riverside Golf Course Introduces Military Veterans to the Game

16 hours ago

Cronenworth’s Big Hit Helps Lift the Padres to a 6-4 Win Over Melvin’s Giants

16 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Reaches 3 Times in Home Debut as the Dodgers Rout the Cardinals 7-1

17 hours ago

Facebook News Tab Will Soon Be Unavailable as Meta Scales Back News and Political Content

17 hours ago

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Rises to More Records to Close Out Its Latest Winning Month

17 hours ago

A Fresno County First: Kerman Council Passes Amended Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution

17 hours ago

UN Top Court Orders Israel to Open More Land Crossings for Aid into Gaza

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend