Mean December temperatures for the last four years, from around the world:

St. Petersburg, Russia,

2006: 36 degrees F
2007: 32
2008: 29
2009 (through 12/29): 21 degrees


Copenhagen:

2006: 43 F
2007: 39
2008: 37
2009 (12/29): 35 degrees


Memphis:

2006: 48 F
2007: 48
2008: 44
2009: 41 degrees

Buenos Aires, Argentina:

2006: 75 F
2007: 73
2008: 73
2009: 70 degrees

Beijing, China

2006: 29 F
2007: 31
2008: 28
2009: 26 degrees

Caracas (Dec):

2006: 76 F
2007: 78
2008: 79
2009: 79

Greenland is a bit above normal this month:

Nuuk:

2006: 20 F
2007: 17
2008: 19
2009: 26

and Baghdad:

2006: 49 F
2007: 53
2008: 53
2009: 58

Calgary, on the other hand:

2006: 28 F
2007: 19
2008: 13
2009: 11

London:

2006: 45 F
2007: 43
2008: 40
2009: 39

and, holding steady, Rothera Research Station, on the Antarctic Peninsula:

2006: 34 F
2007: 32
2008: 31
2009: 33

Anybody been to Vladivostok? Looks cold:

Dec 2006: 15 degrees F
2007: 16
2008: 15
2009: 4.

If I'm figuring this correctly, that would be a mean temperature of -15.5 degrees C this month. Looking at NASA's temperature records for Vladivostok, this will be coldest December since 1947 (I bet the gulags were a hoot that year), and the second coldest on record.

Cape Town, SA, holding steady:

Dec 2006: 68
2007: 70
2008: 69
2009: 68

Washington, DC:

Dec 2006: 44 degrees F
2007: 42
2008: 41
2009: 38 degrees

Honolulu:

Dec 2006: 76 degrees F
2007: 76
2008: 76
2009: 74

NASA Average Land Surface Temperature for the past 8 days (daytemps), compared with 2000-2008 base temps:

Global temps for December have been calculated by the UAH satellite system, and the reading is an anomaly of 0.28 degrees C, a decline of approximately 0.2 degrees from the anomaly in November.

As you can see from the 30 year chart below, temperature anomalies bumped up slightly in 2009, but continue to run well below the plateau of temperatures that existed in the early to mid 2000s.

(01-01-2010 10:49 AM)bubbapt Wrote:  Mean December temperatures for the last four years, from around the world:

and, holding steady, Rothera Research Station, on the Antarctic Peninsula:

2006: 34 F
2007: 32
2008: 31
2009: 33

Are you kiddine me! All that antarctic ice is going to melt!

WE'RE DOOMED!

Interesting stuff.

That North American temperature image has been consistent for the last few winters. High pressure blocking systems park over Alaska and Greenland providing those arctic areas with mild spells.

Meanwhile, all that cold didn't just disappear... those blocks have funneled a lot of it down through central Canada and oftentimes south into the US (as well as into central Europe). It basically took a detour down south because it can't move the Greenland bubble. This is exactly what's been happening the past two weeks and is expected to continue this week and beyond.

In fact, our cool summer was influenced by this as well.

What's funny is that this is supposed to be an El Nino winter too.

All I know is it is d@mn cold in Houston. Where TF is El Nino when we need her.

(01-05-2010 11:45 AM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  All I know is it is d@mn cold in Houston. Where TF is El Nino when we need her.

Um...El Nino is a him.

Yeah, I think you're referring to La Nina.

The Remote Sensing System (RSS) satellite registered a similar temperature anomaly for December of +0.243 degrees C.

Interestingly, the continental United States experienced it coldest temperature anomaly (for any month) since 1989 -- 1.898 degrees C below the norm for December.

This was balanced by positive anomalies for the areas just below the Arctic Circle (1.58 degrees) and the tropics (0.553).

January is looking a lot worse for the US. If yar comin' to tha Midwest, ya better bring yar tuque!

US annual temperatures are now showing a 0.71 degree DECLINE trend over the past decade:

Contiguous USA

Not trying to bust balls or anything but how does anyone know what the "normal" temperature of the planet is supposed to be? Average temps maybe, but what does normal mean?

(01-10-2010 08:03 AM)bubbapt Wrote:  

What exactly are all these "impressive" charts and graphs supposed to show?

(01-10-2010 10:09 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Not trying to bust balls or anything but how does anyone know what the "normal" temperature of the planet is supposed to be? Average temps maybe, but what does normal mean?

As you imply, "normal" is a subjective term.

(01-10-2010 10:48 PM)RobertN Wrote:  What exactly are all these "impressive" charts and graphs supposed to show?

They show temps in December.

(01-11-2010 12:31 AM)bubbapt Wrote:  

(01-10-2010 10:09 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Not trying to bust balls or anything but how does anyone know what the "normal" temperature of the planet is supposed to be? Average temps maybe, but what does normal mean?

As you imply, "normal" is a subjective term.

Normal refers to the "norm"... the mathematical term meaning, "a statistic describing the location of a distribution" effectively synonymous with "average."

(01-11-2010 12:34 AM)bubbapt Wrote:  

(01-10-2010 10:48 PM)RobertN Wrote:  What exactly are all these "impressive" charts and graphs supposed to show?

They show temps in December.

January's will be fun to see.

(01-11-2010 09:31 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(01-11-2010 12:34 AM)bubbapt Wrote:  

(01-10-2010 10:48 PM)RobertN Wrote:  What exactly are all these "impressive" charts and graphs supposed to show?

They show temps in December.

January's will be fun to see.

The first half will show deep freeze, but the last half will turn relatively quiet and 'average' (at least east of the Rockies).

The next 7-10 days show very little snow and highs in the 30s, and maybe a few low 40s, for my neck of the woods. Looking forward to merely 'chilly' compared to face-numbing cold.

I guess I'd like to know how unusual the temp changes are. Everything is either above or below the norm, but is -8 below normal for a particular month unusual - say, in the tails of the usual bell curve? Or is it within a standard deviation of the typical temperature variation? Just trying to put it in context.

(01-11-2010 04:58 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I guess I'd like to know how unusual the temp changes are. Everything is either above or below the norm, but is -8 below normal for a particular month unusual - say, in the tails of the usual bell curve? Or is it within a standard deviation of the typical temperature variation? Just trying to put it in context.

You can get the data in line, bar, plot and table form from the same website Bubba got that graph.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/rese...g3/na.html

According to that table this past December was the 14 coldest December on record for the US.



You can get various regions, states and cities data from this link.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/rese.../cag3.html

(01-12-2010 06:44 PM)plaidtiger Wrote:  

(01-11-2010 04:58 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  I guess I'd like to know how unusual the temp changes are. Everything is either above or below the norm, but is -8 below normal for a particular month unusual - say, in the tails of the usual bell curve? Or is it within a standard deviation of the typical temperature variation? Just trying to put it in context.

You can get the data in line, bar, plot and table form from the same website Bubba got that graph.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/rese...g3/na.html

According to that table this past December was the 14 coldest December on record for the US.



You can get various regions, states and cities data from this link.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/rese.../cag3.html

Shorten the timeframe to the past 60 years and you'll see a decline of about 1.5 degrees. How about we go back 100, 200, 300 a,d 500 years and see what the trends are... otherwise, it certainly appears that you can pick a timeframe to tell either story... or just call it "change", which seems like the only CONSISTENT thing about the chart.