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2012 – USA’s hottest year on record?

US on course to notch record year of heat SMH, October 19, 2012 After a hot spring and a scorching summer, this winter is likely to continue a US warming trend that could make 2012 the hottest year since modern record-keeping began, US weather experts said Thursday.
Drought that ravaged much of the United States this year may spread in the coming months, said Mike Halpert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
“The large majority of that drought we expect to persist,” Halpert said. “We even see drought expanding westward … into Montana, Idaho and part of Oregon and Washington.”
Dryer-than-usual winter weather is expected in much of the Pacific Northwest, with higher-than-normal precipitation predicted for the Gulf Coast, according to NOAA forecasts……There is enough data to predict a warm winter overall, said Deke Arndt, chief of climate monitoring at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.

The first nine months of 2012 were the warmest of any year on record in the contiguous United States, and this has been the third-hottest summer since record-keeping began.

“The main issues facing the US going into this (winter) outlook period stem from persistent heat and drought,” Arndt said at a telephone briefing. “It is likely that 2012 will be the warmest of the 118-year record for the contiguous United States.” http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/us-on-course-to-notch-record-year-of-heat-20121019-27uyc.html#ixzz29t6FaiSX

October 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA