The lower 48 states set a new heat record in 2012, according to official government temperature takers.
The average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20 th century average and a full degree higher than the previous 1998 record, according to Tuesday’s State of the Climate report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center.
Government researchers say there’s no doubt: Climate change is turning up the heat.
And it’s not a flash in the pan. NOAA scientists say more warmer-than-average years are on the horizon, and that will likely lead to more frequent extreme weather events, drought and other negative impacts.
“I would say that the heat that we saw in the U.S. is consistent with what we would expect in a warming world,” said Deke Arndt, chief of the climate monitoring branch at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. And 2012 represents “a huge exclamation point on the end” of years of warming, he added.
“Big heat and big rain are the types of extreme events that we are seeing more often,” Arndt said, and that will continue. There will be more major rain storms over short periods of time, with the potential for longer dry periods in between those storms, he said.
Still, though it’s difficult to connect one single event, such as Superstorm Sandy, to decades-long climate change patterns, the number of events is adding up, he said.
“While it’s challenging to pin that drought on climate change, it is part of an expected pattern,” Arndt said. And “whatever caused [Sandy] to evolve like she did, she was operating on an ocean that was several inches higher,” Arndt noted.
Greens quickly seized to the data, urging federal regulatory action to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
“NOAA’s report should sound the alarm that we can’t wait another day to start fighting climate change,” said Daniel Lashof, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate and Clean Air Program.
“The good news is that the president can start right now,” Lashof said, saying Obama should push ahead with regulations requiring cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, using existing federal authority under the Clean Air Act.
The fact that 2012’s average temperature was a full degree warmer than the previous record is significant on its own: Before 2012, the record warmest year was 1998, which only topped the 1934 mark by 0.2 degrees. And that 1934 record stood for 64 years, said Jake Crouch, climate scientist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
Every state in the contiguous U.S. posted an above-average annual temperature for 2012, and 19 states reached record highs.
There were 356 all-time high temperatures in the U.S. in 2012, and four all-time lows. The lows all occurred in Hawaii.
Precipitation was also down: It was the 15th driest year on record, dating back to 1895, according to NOAA. About 62 percent of the U.S. is still experiencing drought, NOAA says, though it is less noticeable outside of growing season.
But water levels are low, particularly in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, causing some problems for commercial shipping.
Alaska, meanwhile, had quite a different experience from the lower 48 states. 2012 was the 11 th coolest year since temperature and precipitation records began there in 1918. It was also one of the wettest, Crouch said. Hawaii had a drier-than-average year.
The year was also cooler and wetter in the Pacific Northwest than much of the country, comparatively, Crouch said.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 5:16 p.m. on January 8, 2013.