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Earth United States

NOAA Unveils a Warmer Climate 'Normal' For the US 45

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed new standards on Tuesday for what an average or "normal" U.S. climate looks like, showing average temperatures in the U.S. rising significantly. Updating these standards is important for helping shape government policies and what your local weather forecaster says the "average" high temperature is on a given date.

NOAA releases climate averages for the preceding 30-year period every 10 years. The "climate normals" released Tuesday cover 1991-2020 and indicate that the U.S. climate has warmed, and also become wetter over time. NOAA noted that parts of the U.S. may also get drier, due to climate change. "The influence of long-term global warming is obvious," per a press release. The new normals may shift how the climate is described for particular parts of the U.S. With the changes, Fairbanks, Alaska is no longer considered a sub-Arctic climate, but is now termed a "warm summer continental" climate.
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NOAA Unveils a Warmer Climate 'Normal' For the US

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  • Dryer (Score:1, Funny)

    by saloomy ( 2817221 )
    Portland, Seattle, you are welcome.
    • We already don't get all that much rain up here in Seattle. We just get a lot of rainy days.
      Does dryer mean we're gonna get pissed on a little less, just as often, or pissed on just as much, less often?
    • I love rain. Moving out to the rain belt areas of Washington or Oregon is my dream.

      • I love rain. Moving out to the rain belt areas of Washington or Oregon is my dream.

        PA might be a good choice as well, although the summers are humid. Our mountains aren't as tall, but it's still beautiful and green. I describe it as the mountains out west are more a distant sort of thing, while here, esp in the ridge and valley region, they are up close and personal.

      • Hawaii. Just make sure you do whatever Rob Schneider did in 50 First Dates so you don't look like a haole. Unless you love to fight.
    • No thanks. I grew up here and prefer it rainy and wet.
  • by LeeLynx ( 6219816 ) on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @11:01PM (#61348960)
    I suspect these new 'normal' standards will be used by hacks on certain cable networks to claim that current weather patterns aren't indicative of climate change - after all, according to NOAA, these temperatures and rainfall numbers are normal.
    • We have a general lack of education around dealing with data.
      We just want a simple number like a Thermometer where if it is above a value than it is warm, where it is below a value it is cold.
      We spend millions of dollar, for computers to crunch millions of rows of data to give a dashboard needle or a red and green light. Then when the company goes out of business they are surprised because all their indicators were good.

      We sometime need to dig into the data and de-average it, find trends and changes over t

      • We have a general lack of education around dealing with data. We just want a simple number like a Thermometer where if it is above a value than it is warm, where it is below a value it is cold. We spend millions of dollar, for computers to crunch millions of rows of data to give a dashboard needle or a red and green light. Then when the company goes out of business they are surprised because all their indicators were good.

        We sometime need to dig into the data and de-average it, find trends and changes over time that a percentage of a good or bad light will not find.

        No kidding we have a bad issue dealing with data. I'm pretty convinced that a lot of people don't want data nor the info given.

        In matters of AGW, my recent experience leads me to believe that rather than outright denial, many people simply want the weather to be warmer. Living in PA, we just went through the worst winter in several years. But it's a hella small "worst". We had snow on the ground for maybe 2 weeks.I had March plants popping up in January. But in my network of people, you would have thoug

        • Ca, Tx, Nm, Az, Fla. NONE of these people want more hot, humid days. much less MORE hot or MORE humid. One way ticket to cheap land, because no one can live there
          • Ca, Tx, Nm, Az, Fla. NONE of these people want more hot, humid days. much less MORE hot or MORE humid. One way ticket to cheap land, because no one can live there

            Well, they shouldn't. A friend lives in Phoenix, and he was stuck in the house a lot of last year - half of the year was over 100 degrees. https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]

            People might say "it's a dry heat" but when the temperature is higher than your bodies temp, doesn't take much of that dry heat to kill ya. And they are off again - just had their first 100 degree day of 2021 on May 5th.

            So unless they are going to adopt the Sahara Desert Nomad model, or maybe start wearing stillsuits ala Arrakis in

    • This can't be, he told us "It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch"? You mean he can be wrong? He lied to us?!
    • by mspohr ( 589790 )

      Just declare global warming "normal". Problem solved.

      • Personally I've been advocating for everyone to just turn their air conditioners on high and open their windows, but it hasn't caught on yet.
  • Increase that dynamic range if you want to be taken more seriously.

  • By applying new standards, there won't be much differences between a warmer climate, as it used to be compared to the climate of 10 years ago, and the new standards. Is it a way to deny global warming?
    • by JoeRobe ( 207552 ) on Wednesday May 05, 2021 @05:04AM (#61349448) Homepage

      Definitely not a way of denying global warming. It's about defining expected weather ranges for a given region based upon recent historical data. The temperature increase due to global warming still stands, and will be fervently measure and reported by NOAA as it should.

      This is so when your weather person says "today will be abnormally hot" they're defining "abnormal" based upon an up-to-date definition of "normal".

      There is an argument to be had for not updating "normal" so that every weather person for decades to come has to say every day will be abnormally warm (or dry, or wet, or hurricane-y). Maybe then it will eventually sink in that the Earth really is warming. But I digress....

  • by jerryjnormandin ( 1942378 ) on Wednesday May 05, 2021 @09:34AM (#61350048)
    The Sun is entering "Grand Solar Minimum". It's going to get colder, not hotter. Plus if the increased volcanic activity continues the ash in the air will cool down the climate. https://21stcenturywire.com/20... [21stcenturywire.com]
      • NASA is split over the data. What's worse is it all depends how you format the statistical data. You need to look at the data yourself. I prefer to factor in historical data. I agree that we will not experience another Ice Age. But I believe we will see more cooler than normal days than warmer than normal days. That is exactly what we are experiencing. Climate Change is cyclical, not linear. It's driven by parameters outside of our control. Sure we can help by reducing emissions, but we can't can
  • Look what I can do, I'm sure you will not regret! we will fun together. My contacts ==>> https://mub.me/id4278 [mub.me]

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