This is the Department of Commerce logo NCDC / Climate Resources / Climate Monitoring / July / Search / Help
This is the Department of Commerce logo

Climate of 2001
July in Historical Perspective

National Climatic Data Center, 15 August 2001

 This is the NOAA logo
Global Analysis / Global Regional / U.S. National / U.S. Regional / U.S. Drought / Extreme Events
Use these links to access more detailed analyses of these and other Global and U.S. anomalies.

Global Highlights:

  • Global average land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for July
  • Lower tropospheric temperatures were slightly warmer than average during the month
  • Temperatures in the lower stratosphere were cooler than average
  • Above average precipitation was most notable across southeast China, with below average precipitation across Japan, the US Southern Plains and Venezuela
  

Contents of this Section:
This is a break in the document

Top of Page Introduction

Anomalous warmth (using a 1992-2001 base period as shown in the adjacent blended product of satellite and in-situ data) was dominant across eastern and western Asia as well as the central parts of the United States and Canada in July. Strong upper level ridges of high pressure (depicted by positive 500 millibar height anomalies) were situated across much of Canada, as well as western and eastern areas of the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Temperature anomalies calculated from in-situ station data using a 1961-1990 base period also show the warmer than average temperatures in these regions as well as cooler than average temperatures across much of the central FSU, the eastern seaboard of the US and southern Argentina. Click Here for the Global Blended Temperature in July 2001
larger image
This is a break in the document

Top of Page Temperature

  • July 2001 global land and ocean temperature was second warmest in the 1880 to present record and was 0.50°C (0.90°F) above the long-term average (0.42°C / 0.76°F above the 1961-1990 mean)
  • Temperatures averaged across the Northern Hemisphere ranked second warmest, or 0.63°C (1.13°F) above the long-term July mean
Click Here for the Global Temp Anomalies in June 2001
larger image

Click Here for the July Northern Hemisphere Temperatures
larger image
  • The warmest July on record was observed across the extratropical oceans of the Northern Hemisphere (90°N-20°N), as the average ocean temperature was 0.66°C (1.19°F) above average
  • Using a 1961-1990 base period, the ocean temperature in the Northern Hemisphere extratropics was 0.63°C (1.13°F) above the 30-year average
  • Across extratropical areas of the Northern Hemisphere, 2001 had the second warmest July in the 1880 to present record, falling just 0.02°C (0.04°F) below the record July temperature anomaly of 0.83°C (1.49°F) that occurred during the El Niño year of 1998
This is a break in the document

Top of Page Precipitation

  • Several landfalling typhoons in the western Pacific brought unusually heavy rains to the southeast coast of China
  • Monthly precipitation departures of 100-200 mm (3.94-7.87 inches) were common across Japan, Venezuela and the central US
  • Monsoon rains were lighter than average across most of the northern half of India
Click Here for the Global Precip Anomalies in July 2001 larger image

This is a break in the document

Top of Page Microwave Sounding Unit Data

Click Here for the Lower Tropospheric Temperature time series
larger image
  • July temperatures averaged in the lowest 8km (5 miles) of the troposphere were slightly above average (0.04°C / 0.07°F)
  • Northern Hemisphere temperatures in the lower troposphere were a bit warmer than average (0.15°C / 0.27°F), while Southern Hemisphere temperatures were a bit cooler than the 1979-1998 average (-0.07°C / -0.13°F)
Click Here for the Lower Stratospheric Temperature time series
larger image
  • July temperatures in the lower stratosphere were -0.36°C (-0.65°F) below average
  • This was the 9th consecutive July with cooler than average temperatures in the lower stratosphere

Lower tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature data are collected by NOAA's TIROS-N polar-orbiting satellites and adjusted for time-dependent biases by NASA and the Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

This is a break in the document

For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in June see the Global Regional page .

This is a break in the document

References:

Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 2837-2849.

For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division:

Climate Services Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue, Room 120
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: ncdc.orders@noaa.gov
This is a break in the document

For questions about this report, please contact:

David Easterling
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: David.Easterling@noaa.gov

-or-

Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Jay.Lawrimore@noaa.gov

Top of Page Top of Page

This is the Department of Commerce logo NCDC / Climate Resources / Climate Monitoring / July / Search / Help

http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2001/jul/global.html
Downloaded Friday, 04-Jul-2008 11:12:58 EDT
Last Updated Monday, 11-Jul-2005 09:23:26 EDT by Scott.Stephens@noaa.gov
Please see the NCDC Contact Page if you have questions or comments.