Ag Weather Forum

Here's the November global climate report from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

The period of September-to-November is defined as the Northern Hemisphere's autumn and the Southern Hemisphere's spring.

During September-to-November 2018, warmer- to much-warmer-than-average conditions were present across much of the world's land and ocean surface, with cooler-than-average conditions limited to Canada, northern Mexico, and most of the contiguous U.S., southern parts of Asia, and parts of the Atlantic Ocean, specifically off the southern coast of Greenland, and eastern Indian Ocean.

Record warm temperatures during the three-month period were present across parts of western Alaska and surrounding ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, Barents Sea, eastern Africa, eastern Asia and western Pacific Ocean. No land or ocean areas had record low temperatures during September-to-November 2018. Averaged as a whole, the global land and ocean surface temperature for the three-month period of September-to-November 2018 was 0.80 degrees Celsius (1.44 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average -- the second warmest such period in the 139-year record. September-to-November 2015 was the warmest such period at 0.96 degrees C (1.73 degrees F) above the 20th century average.

The global ocean-only surface temperature was also the second highest for September-to-November at 0.72 degrees C (1.30 degrees F) above the 20th century average, trailing behind 2015 by 0.13 degrees C (0.23 degrees F). Meanwhile, the global land-only surface temperature was 1.01 degrees C (1.82 degrees F) above average and tied with 2012 and 2016 as the sixth highest September-to-November on record.

Five of six continents had a September-to-November 2018 temperature that ranked among the eight warmest such period since continental records began in 1910. Of note, Europe had its second warmest September-to-November on record at 1.70 degrees C (3.06 degrees F) above average, behind 2006 (1.75 degrees C/3.15 degrees F above average). Meanwhile, North America had its coolest such period since 1996.

The Atlantic MDR (Main Development Region) and the Caribbean Islands had their coolest September-to-November since 2002 and 2008, respectively. Meanwhile the Gulf of Mexico's September-to-November 2018 temperature departure from average of .82 degrees C (1.48 degrees F) above average tied with 1941 as the second highest such period on record. The Hawaiian Region had its third highest September-to-November since regional records began in 1910 at 0.96 degrees C (1.73 degrees F) above average.

Select national information is highlighted below. (Please note that different countries report anomalies with respect to different base periods. The information provided here is based directly upon these data).

Switzerland had its third warmest autumn since national records began in 1864. France's September-to-November 2018 national temperature was 1.0 degrees C (1.8 degrees F) above average and the fourth highest autumn temperature on record, falling behind 2006, 2014, and 2011.

Australia's spring 2018 temperature was the ninth highest since national records began in 1910 at 1.07 degrees C (1.93 degrees F) above the 1961-to-1990 average. Regionally, Queensland had its third highest spring temperature on record at 1.42 degrees C (2.56 degrees F) above average. Queensland's warmest spring took place in 2013 (1.81 degrees C/3.26 degrees F above average). Tasmania and the Northern Territory had a spring temperature that ranked among the eight highest on record.

On precipitation: Northern Hemisphere autumn/Southern Hemisphere spring precipitation was generally drier than normal across Canada, the western contiguous U.S., northeastern Brazil, central Europe, India, Pakistan, central Russia, and Mongolia. Wetter-than-normal conditions were notable across the eastern half of the contiguous U.S., southern South America, western and southeastern parts of Europe, western and eastern parts of Russia, South Korea, and southern Japan.

The full report is at this link: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/…

Bryce Anderson can be reached at bryce.anderson@dtn.com

Follow Bryce Anderson on Twitter @BAndersonDTN

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