11/10/2009

Third coldest October on record for the US



Oklahoma for example had its coldest October in the last 115 years. 19 states had one of their coldest 10 Octobers in the last 115 years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has this report:

The average October temperature of 50.8°F was 4.0°F below the 20th Century average and ranked as the 3rd coolest based on preliminary data.

For the nation as a whole, it was the third coolest October on record. The month was marked by an active weather pattern that reinforced unseasonably cold air behind a series of cold fronts. Temperatures were below normal in eight of the nation's nine climate regions, and of the nine, five were much below normal. Only the Southeast climate region had near normal temperatures for October. . . . .


I am sure that one could pull out some month were temperatures are high, but the question for this post is how would the media cover that story. My guess is that if this were the third warmest October on record there would be significant discussions in the media about it.

Updated material;

By the way, over the last three months, the temperature was the 8th coldest out of the last 115 years. Over the last six months, the temperature was the 34th coldest out of the last 115 years.

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8 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Have you looked at the possibilities that the oceanic current has risen a couple of degrees over the last decade? Could this, warmer ocean water creating warmer air coming off of the ocean have a relative affect to current changes in climate? Alaska's temperature has risen 3.5 degrees in the last 30 years. It would seem that there must be a correlation to the raising Alaskan temperature and the raising temperature of ocean. With things changing there will be adverse effects around north America, I don't know enough to point say definitively what weather systems should be doing in conjunction to the northern regions getting warmer. The warmer the ocean current the slower it becomes. There is some data that claims that the last ice age was created by a massive amount of warm water being dumped into the Atlantic from the Hudson bay due to the melting of a glacier that worked as a damn. This dumping of water caused the great oceanic current to shut down, plunging Europe and north America into an ice age. I personally agree that there is a major bias in the media to advocate global warming due to carbon emissions, for very political reasons it would seem, i.e. cap and trade. I do believe, however, that the climate is changing and the question becomes, is it our fault? Or is it a cycle the world has gone through for a long time?

11/10/2009 12:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Seriously? Did you happen to notice that the jet stream was flowing due south from the north pole a lot last month? Do ya think that might of had some effect?
Where did you go to "college"?

11/10/2009 12:26 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Dear Mr. Beck:

Possibly you missed the point of the post. If so, you might want to read the concluding paragraph at least once.

11/10/2009 3:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you actually believe that a (highly unusual) north american weather pattern that occurred in October 2009 is somehow proof of... ANYTHING.... relating to long term global temperature trends?

11/10/2009 4:10 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Dear Mr. Beck:

If it were the 3rd highest monthly temperature on record for October, do you think it would get mentioned on the news? Again, I am suggest that you read what I wrote in the last paragraph. By the way, over the last three months, the temperature was the 8th coldest out of the last 115 years. Over the last six months, the temperature was the 34th coldest out of the last 115 years.

11/10/2009 9:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wouldn't even bother to respond if it weren't for the fact that you purport to have some academic credentials. You fail to understand (or at least admit) that average temperatures of the "US", over a month, 3 months or even 6 months are meaningless in the context of long-term GLOBAL climate trends.
Your references are anecdotal, and based on regional anomalies over a very short period of time.
What was the average temperature in Australia last month? What about Africa, South America or Antarctica? You have no idea, and you don't care.
You should be more thorough in your analysis, as befits your Doctorate, or remove your academic bonfides from the blog and admit that you're just spinning isolated tidbits of data to score political points as per Fox News.

11/11/2009 8:57 AM  
Blogger Conservatarian said...

John,
Mr. Beck is simply the latest example in the old adage about how liberals don't actually think, so much as feel. In order to think, you would have to read what is actually written, rather than react to an overall (inaccurate in this case) impression about what is being said.

Of course, being a liberal means never having to say you are sorry you misunderstood.

11/11/2009 11:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I misunderstood nothing. IF you believe that 4 weeks of low temperatures on a portion of one continent is germane to a debate about global warming please say so.

Last month's weather data is not news worthy in the national media, unless that data is germane to a larger story.

For example- Nobody gives a crap about whether the Santa Ana winds are blowing in So. Cal. unless there are wildfires.

Again, it's a matter of scale. Global = Big.
U.S. = Small.
Climate Trends over decades = Big. 30 Days = Small. Get it?

11/13/2009 9:32 AM  

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