 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)
|
larger image |
larger image |
- 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
|
larger image |
larger image |
- 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
|
larger image |
Microwave Sounding Unit Data
larger image |
- 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)
|
larger image |
- 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)
|
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.
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.
|
larger image
