Climate of 2001
May in Historical Perspective

(Including Spring 2001)

National Climatic Data Center, 15 June 2001

Global Highlights:

• Global average land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for both May and spring (March-May)
• For March-May, lower tropospheric temperatures remained slightly above average, while stratospheric temperatures were cooler than average
• Wettest areas during March-May were southeast Asia, southern South America and parts of western Europe

Contents of this Section:

• Global Temperatures
• Global Precipitation
• Microwave Sounding Unit Data

Temperature

Global average land and ocean temperature ranked second warmest in May and was 0.51°C (0.92°F) above the long-term average using a 1880-2000 base period (0.41°C / 0.74°F above the 1961-1990 mean Temperature averaged in the Northern Hemisphere ranked second warmest and was 0.63°C (1.13°F) above average The El Niño event of 1998 was associated with the warmest May on record, with a global average land and ocean temperature anomaly of 0.66°C (1.19°F)

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For spring (March-May), the global average land and ocean temperature was 0.57°C (1.03°F) above the 1880-2000 mean, or second warmest (0.43°C / 0.77°F above the 1961-1990 mean) Temperatures averaged over land surfaces were also second warmest this spring, with a positive departure of 0.99°C (1.78°F) using the 1880-2000 mean The global ocean temperature for March-May ranked second warmest or 0.39°C (0.70°F) above average Southern Hemisphere temperatures for March-May were third warmest, or 0.44°C (0.79°F) above average

May temperatures across extratropical land areas of the Northern Hemisphere (90°N-20°N) were the warmest on record in 2001 (1.18°C / 2.12°F above average) exceeding the previous record set in May 2000 by 0.20°C (0.36°F) Land areas in the tropics ranked third warmest in May, or 0.82°C (1.48°F) above the 1880-2000 mean

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Anomalous warmth dominated much of the Northern Hemisphere during spring 2001, with the greatest departures in eastern Canada, North Africa and much of Asia This temperature distribution was much the same during the month of May Cooler than average temperatures with negative anomalies of -2 to -4°C (-3.6 to -7.2°F) were observed over Scandinavia and southern South America

Precipitation

Drier than average conditions during the March-May period affected areas in northern South America and from the Middle East into much of China Wet weather, with seasonal departures exceeding twice the average, was located across parts of Argentina, southern Asia and western Europe Unusually wet weather in May was most evident over parts of North Africa, northwest India and Indochina

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Microwave Sounding Unit Data

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Spring temperatures in the lowest 8km (5 miles) of the troposphere were 0.30°C (0.54°F) above the 1979-1998 average Lower tropospheric temperatures in May were slightly above average (0.14°C / 0.25°F)

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March-May was below average in the lower stratosphere; a negative departure of -1.26°C (-2.27°F) This was the 9th consecutive May with below average stratospheric temperatures (-0.30°C / -0.54°F)

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

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.

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