Ag Weather Forum

2012 Will Be In Top 10 For Heat

Bryce Anderson
By  Bryce Anderson , Ag Meteorologist Emeritus
Connect with Bryce:
@BAndersonDTN

The following article is from the World Meteorological Organization's climate change conference. Highlights--this year, 2012 will be one of the top 10 hottest years on record--La Nina in the Pacific brought only brief cooling--U.S. heat was extreme--and Arctic sea ice continues to shrink.--Bryce

I'm on Twitter @BAndersonDTN

UN agency: 2012 warmer than normal despite La Nina

KARL RITTER,Associated Press

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Despite early cooling from La Nina, 2012 is on track to become one of the top 10 hottest years on record, with the U.S. experiencing extreme warmth and Arctic Sea ice shrinking to its lowest extent, the U.N. weather agency said Wednesday.

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In a statement released at international climate talks in Qatar, the World Meteorological Organization said the "alarming rate" of the Arctic melt highlights the far-reaching changes caused by global warming.

"Climate change is taking place before our eyes and will continue to do so as a result of the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which have risen constantly and again reached new records," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha to discuss ways of slowing climate change, including by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases that scientists say are warming the planet, melting ice caps, raising sea levels, and changing rainfall patterns with impacts on floods and droughts.

Discord between rich and poor countries on who should do what has kept the two-decade-old U.N. talks from delivering on that goal, and global emissions are still going up.

The WMO said global temperatures rose after initial cooling caused by the La Nina weather oscillation, with major heat waves in the U.S. and Europe. Average temperatures in January-October were the highest on record in the continental U.S., and the ninth highest worldwide.

Before that, a cold spell had much of the Eurasian continent in an icy grip between late January and mid-February, when temperatures in eastern Russia plunged to -50 degrees C (-58 F).

Cyclone activity was normal globally, but above average in the Atlantic, where 10 storms reached hurricane strength, including Sandy, which wreaked havoc across the Caribbean and the U.S. east coast.

Sandy wasn't the strongest cyclone, though. That was typhoon Sanba, which struck the Philippines, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula, "dumping torrential rain and triggering floods and landslides that affected thousands of people and caused millions in U.S. dollars in damage," the WMO said.

Droughts impacted the U.S., Russia, parts of China and northern Brazil. Nigeria saw exceptional floods, while southern China saw its heaviest rainfall in three decades.

But of all the weather events in 2012, the most ominous to climate scientists was the loss of ice cover on the North Pole. In September, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado said Arctic Sea ice measured 1.32 million square miles (3.41 million sq. kilometers) — which is 18 percent less than the previous record low, set in 2007. Records go back to 1979 based on satellite tracking.

The scientists said their computer models predict the Arctic could become essentially free of ice in the summer by 2050, but added that current trends show ice melting faster than the computers are predicting.

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Comments

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Don Thompson
12/3/2012 | 8:18 AM CST
Bryce Thanks so much for your factually informative articles. I very much appreciate your unbiased reporting. Please keep it up.
GORDON KEYES
11/30/2012 | 6:16 PM CST
BRYCE will sending all of our money to oboma change anything No the SANTA CLAUSUS in washington has given every group in our country every thing he could think of. He has told every fool that has had something go wrong in his life it is someonelse fault the ethier totally lies to you or lies to you by ommission. What the hell did you get, some kind of a trinket to tow the liberal line? Never a storiy about a difference or opinion, God knows the sun could have nothing to do with this. we are being led by a lying socialist. Four of our citizen were being killed in Ben Gazi calling for help and our sorry excusr for a leader was hiding under his desk whimpering abd worried about his election. He had to get up early to get to a fund raiser. LEADING FROM BEHIND GETS GOOD MEN KILLED. oBOMA IS TRULY PATHETIC . AS ARE MOST LIBERALS.
Bryce Anderson
11/30/2012 | 5:22 AM CST
Many studies have shown that CO2 emissions from our society's activities are far greater than volcanic emissions.
Unknown
11/29/2012 | 5:53 PM CST
I dont think he realizes how many tons come out of a volcano, GOD created the world , and gave instructions to subdue it
Unknown
11/29/2012 | 5:46 PM CST
we have a prophet who is nailing down 100 years. Fool
Unknown
11/29/2012 | 5:40 PM CST
Bryce, can u put more water on the earth than is present? I dont think u can,I dont care if its ice, or water(although u dont have 2 shovel water) normally,I havent seen a study wherethrough space we are getting more H2O on this planet.
bbob
11/29/2012 | 3:21 PM CST
Maybe so Bryce, the point being? That is not new in the history of this planet. Your energy would be better served helping people adjust. Takeing up some sort of "fix it cause" is only going to give Washington cover for the new taxes they seek.
Bryce Anderson
11/29/2012 | 2:15 PM CST
Regarding ice loss--it's big time. A new study shows that ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are losing three times as much ice as 20 years ago. Story is in the Washington Post. http://tinyurl.com/d5ko8l2
Unknown
11/29/2012 | 10:03 AM CST
TOP educated? I was taught BY these top educated people the world has a slight wobble, so yence that is y change. U cant tell me when its 40 below in January that the world is warming up. I say bring it on.
Jay Mcginnis
11/29/2012 | 7:48 AM CST
You guys,,, the way it sounds you must be listening to Rush and Hanady? Sensationalism and needing to hear the "other side" on scientific evidence of global warming? The climate "crazies" as you call them predicted 100% of what is happening, the amount of co2 is rising as we release billions of years of stored carbon which will return us to some form of Jurassic era climate in less then 100 years which will destroy 30% of modern species,,,,, OH but lets do more studies first, don't do anything different, it might cut oil company profits! DONT let the "liberal media" get a say, they are always wrong, just look at the polls from the election, Rush and Hanady predicted a landslide for Romney! No LETS stay the course of being stupid by not listening to overwhelming majority of top educated scientist and giving the 3% or so of scientists that have been funded by big oil to tout their agenda! I assure you that the results will be far more devastating then the headache Rush and Hanady gave you the Nov 6!
bbob
11/29/2012 | 7:24 AM CST
Daryn and Kerry, its called sensationalism. Going back and reporting the truth delutes the effect.
Kerry Hofer
11/29/2012 | 12:03 AM CST
Bryce, thanks for the link. The article only discusses the area of ice in the poles not the volume. On a volume basis, 90% of all the ice in the world is in the antarctic. So simply comparing percentages of area of both ice caps isn't comparing apples. The Artic ice is much thinner and would react much more to short term temperature changes. In contrast, the Antarctic ice is much thicker and would in turn react to long term temperature changes. If global warming truly is a long term change in our environment, then why isn't the Antarctic ice doing the same? In the article, it showed that as of May the ice was still within standard deviation of historic ice size. We are coming off the hottest summer in history. It only makes sense that the Artic ice would decrease greatly because it is thin. I wonder what the ice caps looked like in the 1930's. I am not saying that global warming isn't happening. I just think we are making it bigger than it really is. We are using data to show this drastic area decrease in ice caps. Due to the thickness of the ice caps, I wonder what the actual decrease in volume ice is? I doubt it is half (or even 5%) as this article makes it seem.
Daryn Romine
11/28/2012 | 9:27 PM CST
Bryce, can you report articles that state global warming is not happening, heat waves that happended hundred years ago, droughts and ect. You seem to report only one side, like to see what the other side says too.
GORDON KEYES
11/28/2012 | 5:24 PM CST
The U.N. run by a bunch of money grabbing banna republic dictators. If there was no money that they thought they could grab they would soon go back to persecuting there own citizens . Any news to the contrary is not reported in the OBOMA suck up media. Weather people need a crisis to report on to keep from slipping off into being just another spot on the 6 PM news. The looks on there faces and disapointment in there voices when said disaster does not materialize is truly heart breaking.
Kerry Hofer
11/28/2012 | 5:22 PM CST
Merry Christmas Jay!
Jay Mcginnis
11/28/2012 | 4:49 PM CST
I had ice on the dog dish last night, PROOF there is no global warming!
Bryce Anderson
11/28/2012 | 2:07 PM CST
Ice cover at the north and south poles is not a 1-for-1 tradeoff. For more information on this subject, you may read an article by the Yale Climate Change and the Media research group. A key point in the article is this paragraph: "The data make clear that the changes in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice cover are not remotely comparable. While Antarctic sea ice is high, it is barely outside of what would be considered normal based on the 1978-2000 period. Arctic sea ice, on the other hand, is barely half of what it was three decades ago." The full article is at this link. http://goo.gl/1XCpe
Kerry Hofer
11/28/2012 | 1:01 PM CST
Just wondering why the global warming camp is only using data from the Artic Ice Cap when the Antartic Ice Cap is the largest on record. Seems like they only want to use data that proofs their theory of global warming. How can they not use all the ice cap data? Don't get me wrong the weather has been crazy but we need to make decisions based on all the facts not facts that support our theories.