State of the Climate
Global Analysis
July 2001

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:

• Introduction
• Global Temperatures
• Global Precipitation
• Microwave Sounding Unit Data

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.

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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

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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

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

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Microwave Sounding Unit Data

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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)

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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

For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in June 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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