Global Temperature Trend Update: March 2011

Every month University of Alabama in Huntsville climatologists John Christy and Roy Spencer report the latest global temperature trends from satellite data. Below are the newest data updated through March, 2011.

March 2011 was coolest in more than a decade

Global climate trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.14 C per decade

March temperatures (preliminary)

Global composite temp.: -0.10 C (about 0.18 degrees Fahrenheit) below 30-year average for March.

Northern Hemisphere: -0.07 C (about 0.13 degrees Fahrenheit) below 30-year average for March.

Southern Hemisphere: -0.13 C (about 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit) above/below 30-year average for March.

Tropics: -0.35 C (about 0.63 degrees Fahrenheit) below 30-year average for March.

February temperatures (revised):

Global Composite: -0.02 C below 30-year average

Northern Hemisphere: -0.04 C below 30-year average

Southern Hemisphere: ±0.00 C above/below 30-year average

Tropics: -0.35 C below 30-year average

(All temperature anomalies are based on a 30-year average (1981-2010) for the month reported.)

Notes on data released April 5, 2011:

Driven by the La Nina Pacific Ocean cooling event, global average temperatures in March 2011 were the coolest March since 1999, according to Dr. John Christy, professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

It was the fifth coolest March in the tropics, where the average temperature fell 0.35 C (about 0.63 degrees Fahrenheit) below seasonal norms. Three of the five coldest tropical Marches in the 33-year satellite temperature record have happened in the past dozen years: 5th, 2011, -0.35 C: 3rd, 2000, -0.42; and 2nd, 2008, -0.58 C.

Coldest Marches In the 33-yr Satellite Record
 (Degrees Celsius)

GLOBAL AVERAGE
 1. 1993 3 -0.45
 2. 1982 3 -0.35
 3. 1989 3 -0.3
 4. 1986 3 -0.26
 5. 1979 3 -0.25
 6. 1984 3 -0.23
 7. 1985 3 -0.23
 8. 1994 3 -0.23
 9. 1987 3 -0.18
10. 1997 3 -0.13
11. 1995 3 -0.12
12. 1992 3 -0.11
13. 1980 3 -0.1
14. 1999 3 -0.1
15.*2011 3 -0.1

Go here to view the satellite data.