State of the Climate
Global Analysis
January 2002

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Climatic Data Center

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Global Highlights:

*Global average land and ocean temperature was the warmest on record for January
Lower tropospheric temperatures were above average during January
Temperatures in the lower stratosphere were cooler than average
During January, above average precipitation was most notable across eastern Brazil and Scandinavia, with drier than average conditions across southern Europe and much of Australia

Introduction

Using a 1992-2002 base period as shown in the adjacent blended temperature product of satellite and in-situ data, anomalously warm temperatures during January in the Northern Hemisphere occurred where upper level ridges of high pressure (depicted by positive 500 millibar height anomalies) were present. Cooler than average temperatures were most pronounced across eastern regions of the Sahara Desert and southeastern Europe. Temperature anomalies calculated from in-situ station data using a 1961-1990 base period also depicted the large area of warm anomalies that covered much of the mid and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

Global Blended Temperature in January 2002

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Temperature

Indications of a likely trend toward El Niño conditions continued during January, as the global land and ocean temperature was the warmest in the 1880 to present record or 0.69°C (1.24°F) above the long-term average
Temperatures averaged across land areas were also warmest on record, or 1.35°C (2.43°F) above the long-term January mean
Ocean temperatures ranked as third warmest, or 0.41°C (0.74°F) above the 1880-2000 mean

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Northern Hemisphere extratropical temperature Anomalies in January 2002

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Based on data available at the time of this report, temperatures in the extratropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere (90°N-20°N) were warmest on record for January, or 1.15°C (2.07°F) above the 1880-2000 mean
Globally, the period November-January was the second warmest on record, or 0.57°C (1.03°F) above average
Significant positive temperature anomalies during the November-January period were centered across the eastern half of the United States

Precipitation

Drier than average weather prevailed across much of the United States, southern Europe and large areas of Australia
Above average precipitation fell in eastern Brazil, Indonesia, Scandinavia and Japan
Additional details on significant precipitation events can be found on the Global Regional page

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Microwave Sounding Unit Data

Lower Tropospheric Temperature time series

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January temperatures in the lowest 8km (5 miles) of the troposphere were 0.23°C (0.41°F) above average, with similar temperature anomalies across the Northern and Southern Hemisphere

Lower Stratospheric Temperature time series

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January temperatures were below average in the lower stratosphere, with a departure of -0.41°C (-0.74°F)
This was the 9th consecutive January with below average stratospheric temperatures

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.

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For additional details on precipitation and temperatures in January see the Global Regional page .
*Based on preliminary data available at the time of this report

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.