Endless Summer? NOAA Predicts U.S. Will Have Above Average Autumn Heat

Climate

NOAA

Most of the U.S. will likely see higher than normal temperatures this autumn, according to a three-month forecast projected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).


The entire nation will experience warmer weather now through December, but those with the greatest temperature increases include northern Alaska, the Southwest and the Four Corners Region of New England, according to USA Today. It’s a continuation of a warming trend observed for the last few decades.

“During the past 30-35 years, there has been an underlying warm-up in the climate,” NOAA meteorologist Anthony Artusa told the publication. “Unless we can predict climate factors or drivers that can override this warm trend (such as El Niño or La Niña), it’s best to go with trends.”

Through the end of this week, temperatures will be between 10 and 20 degrees above average across the Deep South and into the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic, reports The Weather Channel. NOAA’s three-month outlook suggests that through the end of the year, there is a 30 to 50 percent chance that states on both the east and west coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, southern border states and Alaska will see temperatures above normal. Parts of the Midwest and around the Great Lakes are expected to see temperatures near normal. Precipitation is expected to juxtapose that outlook, with the Great Lakes region and parts of the northern Midwest having a high chance of above-average rain and snowfall. Meanwhile, most of California and western Nevada will see lower-than-normal precipitation through the end of the year.

It comes after one of the hottest summers on modern record with deadly heat waves that swept across much of Europe and disastrous wildfires that burned through Alaska and parts of the Arctic.

“The overall retreat in the Beaufort Sea is about as extreme as our analyses have shown in the last 20 years,” wrote the National Weather Service in Anchorage. As the Washington Post reported, Alaska’s most northern town saw temperatures above freezing since June 25.

July 2019 was the hottest month on record for the planet with polar sea ice melting to record lows, according to an August statement released by NOAA. Globally, July was 1.71 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees, making it the hottest July since modern records began 140 years ago. A newly released analysis of preliminary findings by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) found that sea ice coverage in the Arctic dropped 1.6 million square miles (4.15 square kilometers) over the course of the summer, tying 2019 as the second-lowest year along with 2007 and 2016. The record for lowest sea ice extent is still held by 2012.

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