The Power Ball (or overall National Climatic Data Center Ranking) number for summer 2012 came up as 116, the third warmest ranking on record for the lower 48 states for any summer. A ranking of 1 would have been the coldest possible ranking. The National Climatic Data Center has been ranking months, seasons and years from 1 to 118 since 1895 with 1 being the coldest possible temperature average ranking and 118 being the warmest possible temperature average. In the Climate Lottery game, I've defined each individual lottery number as rankings for each month for the lower 48 states, Power Ball numbers as those for each season, and Mega Ball numbers as those for each year. As we keep seeing over and over again the Climate Lottery game is rigged towards those higher number rankings. For everyone who participated in my fourth lottery contest, the numbers were: 105/118/103 for JUN/JUL/AUG 2012 with an overall Power Ball ranking for the season of 116. Just like summer and fall 2011, winter 2012, and spring 2012 not even one month was below average. Above average rankings have occurred for every month since (and including) June 2011. In fact, the lower 48 states have never had 15 straight months of above average temperatures since records have been kept in 1895... a phenomenon that I HIGHLY think is due to man induced global warming.
The winner was Buzz Bernard (again!) who came closest to picking the correct numbers. His picks were 118/115/100 with a "power ball" ranking of 114 for JUN/JUL/AUG 2012. Good going Buzz, we'll all have to look a little closer at the data to beat you next time. Buzz had previously won the contest for winter 2011/2012.
Well, let's play the lottery again. I wonder if we will ever see in the future a "gotcha" set of three months when temperatures are below average for an entire season across the lower 48 states. Just like last time pick three numbers between 1 and 118 (with one representing the coldest possible ranking and 118 being the highest possible ranking) for SEP/AUG/SEP 2012. Also pick a "Power Ball" or overall ranking number for fall 2012 between 1 and 118. Please give your picks in the reply section to this blog by October 1st. As usual, if you wait until just before October 1st to make your picks, you can get an educated guess as to what the ranking for September will be. I'll announce another winner shortly after the National Climatic Data Center processes fall averages and rankings on my next post around December the 10th, 2012. I won't be shocked, at all though again, if just like last summer, fall, winter, and this spring and summer not one single month of fall is below average.
For reference the following are links to my first five posts:
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_26573.html?from=blog_permalink_mainindex">http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/climate-dice-fifth-roll-blog_2012-06-25
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_26573.html?from=blog_permalink_mainindex
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_26573.html?from=blog_permalink_mainindex
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_26102.html?from=blog_permalink_mainindex
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_25602.html?from=blog_permalink_mainindex
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_23192.html?from=blog_permalink_month
Once again, the summer season, as a whole, was above long term averages with no individual month below average; and thus, having above average rankings. I'll reiterate once more (I know that this is getting repetitive) that due to climate change it is unlikely for a land area the size of the contiguous United States to have below average temperatures for an entire season. I'm not going to state that there will NEVER AGAIN be another below average season for the United States, but due to man induced global warming, the chances for an entire season of below average conditions is becoming much less likely. The whole point of these posts is to demonstrate how skewed temperatures have become towards warmth due to climate change...and they were very skewed towards warmth this summer. As stated in my fourth post, only an increase in volcanic activity from what is presently occurring at the moment can significantly slow the overall warming trend of the planet. What has happened so far this year is yet more proof of the climate dice being loaded for warmth in the United States.
The summer heat got deadly this season. Over one hundred people were killed due to heat related issues in the United States. If this summer is any indication of what is to happen in the future, we will all be dreading the advent of the summer solstice and yearning for fall to come quickly. Going back to my first blog, I've been looking closely at temperature averages since my career began at TWC in the 1980s and record temperature data since the late 1990s. In fact, a log of record data that I started on 1/1/2000 led to a peer review science paper indicating that the ratio of record highs to record lows will increase with time during the 21st century should the pace of global warming continue as predicted by climate science's current models. For an overview and summary please see: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009GL040736.shtml
The public doesn't mind if there is a record high of say 70 in New York City during the middle of January...in fact it may be welcome, but people do feel uncomfortable, and actually can die if a record high of over 100 occurs in that same city during the summer. Such was the case during the summer of 2012 when 9685 daily records were set, 358 of which were all-time records. For a horrifying preview of a world to come see the Rolling Stones post at: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719
Here's a breakdown of the National Climatic Center's ranking numbers for each month of the summer:
In June the overall ranking for the lower 48 states was 105 (out of 118):
The historic early heat wave of late spring/early summer started in the Inter-Mountain West. Colorado had its warmest June in recorded history. You can pick out the individual rankings for each state from each map that I will present. The devastating fires in Colorado were a direct result of the early season heat accompanied by drought. The Southeast started out the month on a cool note, but Atlanta, where I live, had an all-time record high of 106 on the last day of June. The heat from the Plains spread east by the end of the month. 343 all-time records were set from late June into July across the U.S.
In July the overall ranking for the lower 48 states was 118 (out of 118).
Oh my! July was the hottest July in recorded history for the lower 48 states. Not only that, it was THE WARMEST MONTH in recorded history. The previous warmest month was July 1936 during the height of the Dust Bowl.
It was only a few months ago that March 2012 also ranked at 118...remarkable! Again, the ranking for each month is not an average of the rankings for each individual state, but a comparison of the averages of all prior years since 1895 for the entire lower 48 states.
In August the overall ranking for the lower 48 states was 103 (out of 118).
In August the jet stream dipped southward into the eastern U.S. allowing cooler than average air masses to penetrate deep into the South; but high pressure aloft continued to cook the West and much of the Plains. It was still warm enough from coast to coast for August to be the 16th warmest August (out of 118) on record.
The overall ranking for summer 2012 was 116 (out of 118)...The third hottest summer on record.
Again, I am getting all of my ranking numbers from the National Climatic Data Center.
The link for the National Climatic Data Center's Climate at a Glance Site where the rankings are archived is: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html
I'm keeping the format on all of my charts the same as on the last three posts. The average ranking for 2012 is
59 since the coldest ranking would be 1 and the hottest would be 118. I have color coded all rankings for this post at or below 38 blue and all those at or above 79 red with rankings + or -- 19 from the median value of 59 black.
The following are the rankings so far for the 2010's:
Also, for reference, the following are "Power-Ball" and "Mega-Ball" ranking numbers for 2000 to the present.
Please see my prior posts for more charts dating back to 1900. Seasonal or Power-Ball rankings for winter are those for DEC/JAN/FEB, spring are those for MAR/APR/MAY, summer is JUN/JUL/AUG, and fall is SEP/OCT/NOV. Also, keep in mind that NCDC rankings for seasons compare seasons and are not merely an average of rankings of individual months of a season or year.
Notice that since the start of 2000 only five out of fifty-one seasons have been below average or "blue". Thirty-six out of the fifty-one seasons since 2000 have been "red" or above average. Indeed, as stated in the last post, the climate dice are very much loaded for above average temperatures for the lower 48 states looking at recent history.
I hope that everyone will have a pleasant fall. Even if fall ends up being well above average, at least it will be cooler than what has occurred during this torrid summer.
Click here to leave a comment and play the climate lottery.
Guy Walton
Lead Forecaster, the Weather Channel
