Article brought to you by: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
2010 declared hottest year on record
July 18th, 2010
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
It's not your imagination that things appear to be scorching hot. According to a U.S. national weather analysis, 2010 is the hottest year on record, causing droughts worldwide and a concern for U.S. farmers.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to Jay Lawrimore, chief of climate analysis at the federal National Climatic Data Center, the first six months of 2010 has been warmer than the first half of 1998, the previous record holder, by 0.03 degree Fahrenheit.
An El Nino weather pattern is being blamed for the hot temperatures globally. "We had an El Nino episode in the early part of the year that's now faded but that has contributed to the warmth not only in equatorial Pacific but also contributed to anomalously warm global temperatures as well," Lawrimore says.
In addition, abnormally hot temperatures have been registered in parts of Canada, Africa, tropical oceans and parts of the Middle East.
Many parts of the world are suffering through droughts. Northern Thailand is struggling through the worst drought in 20 years, while Israel is in the middle of the longest and most severe drought since 1920s. In Britain, this year has been the driest since 1929.
However -- as cooler temperatures may set in later this year, it remains to be seen whether 2010 will overtake 2005 as all-time hottest year.
"This year the fact that the El Nino episode has ended and is likely to transition into La Nina, which has a cooling influence on the global average temperature, it's possible that we will not end up with the warmest year as a whole.
"For the U.S., January to June, this is only slightly warmer than average," Lawrimore says.
A deciding factor is the development of La Nina, possibly coming in July and August, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The transition commonly brings hotter and drier weather to the farming belt of the U.S. Midwest region.
The hot temperatures may especially hurt corn pollination, while dry weather could affect soy bean crops.