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.

Comments

[sarcasmic]

I see a problem with the data.

It says that temperatures were above average.

They are always above normal, not above average.

This way whenever temperatures are up we are reminded that warmer temperatures are abnormal as a result of Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Calling warm temperatures above average does not convey the Anthropogenic Global Warming message.

Shame on you!

[robc]

GLOBAL COOLING! NEW ICE AGE! PANIC!

Actually, I would bet on ice instead of fire, if I had to bet on destruction of mankind, but its a pointless bet as who would I collect from?

[Vermont Gun Owner]

There are always survivors after the destruction of mankind, and they always include some suspiciously hot chicks.

[robc]

With that in mind, I know what the terms of the bet will be.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

I flirted with my last girlfriend about the ways I would be useful in a robotic apocalypse. Surprisingly it worked.

[TallDave]

With the robots, or the girl?

[Vermont Gun Owner]

The girl. Haven't see you in a while TD.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Wasn't February low as well? Looks like we're shaping up for a cold year.

[robc]

Standard rant:

An arbitrarily chosen 30 year period for baseline is stupid. Referring to variations from that period as anomalies is even stupider.

Either average all 33 years of data as the baseline or a rolling 30 year period. Yes, that means the baseline moves every month. So fucking what? That is why we enslaved computers.

[DNS]

That is why we enslaved computers.

Wait until The Butlerian Jihad, robc. Just you wait.

[Juice]

Those prequels were better than the original series, IMO.

[Brett L]

We're gonna have to have us a Juician Jihad, now.

[Zeb]

I actually liked the prequels, but that's still some goddamn blasphemy.

[alan]

Good work, Juice. Now tell these people about the wonders of Terry Brooks compared to that old perve Tolkien, or is it Gandalf? I forget who wrote that instantly forgettable trilogy. Oh well, like it matters!

[TallDave]

Agreed. And the final sequel (postquel?) was epic, imho.

[robc]

This will occur before the Butlerian Jihad.

[Almanian]

In future, computers enslave YOU!

[Neu Mejican]

Yes, that means the baseline moves every month. So fucking what?

Standard response: what is the scientific advantage to your approach?

Isn't the better quibble that they are even talking about "monthly" trends in a discussion of climate?

[juris imprudent]

Isn't the better quibble that they are even talking about "monthly" trends in a discussion of climate?

No shit. Can this discussion be consigned to an annual basis?

[Almanian]

If this be warming, then make the most of it!

[Old Mexican]

Climate change ping-pong.

March 2011 was coolest in more than a decade

Denier!

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

See? We're doomed!

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.

Denier!

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Yipee, another AGW thread.

My forecast calls for a blizzard of talking points.

Chance of civil interaction: 10%

[Brett L]

Fuck you, civilist!

[OO]

it would help if the deniers understood the diff bet weather & climate.

[kinnath]

it's getting old, but . . . Fucking irony; how does it work?

[Brett L]

No they get it. Weather is when its colder than the running average, climate is when its warmer.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

You mean like Mr. Denier Al "Look how unseasonably hot it is during this conference" Gore?

[sevo]

It would help of OO found one more brain cell.
I'll have dinner instead of waiting.

[OO]

thanks for making my point

[Almanian]

Thanks for continuing to be a fucking moron posting nonsense. Get back to daycare, you useless fuck.

[Mike M.]

Wow, the Obamessiah is so all powerful, he has somehow managed to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the flow of carbon dioxide from the planetary surface into the upper atmosphere! Oh, he hasn't and man is still producing as much CO2 as ever? Crap, what an inconvenient truth that is.

In summary: there still has been absolutely no global warming since 1998, there still is no so-called "trend" to be seen in the so-called "average global temperature", and this is still one of silliest and most pointless exercises you're ever going to see. Lather, rinse, and repeat monthly.

[Cytotoxic]

Well, hold on there. I heard something to the effect that one series is flat and that's the one that doesn't include polar (arctic?) temps but the series that does shows some warming. I lean skeptic but we really need to be tighter than this. The skeptic overreach will bite us just like it did for the warmists.

[TheZeitgeist]

Exactly. Nobody 'knows' how the atmosphere works. For all the ideological misery I see on this subject, its fascinating science (science that is far from 'settled').

[Neu Mejican]

science that is far from 'settled'

Settled science is pretty close to an oxymoron, of course. The term has been much abused by both sides in the political discussion (exaggerating both what is known and what is uncertain on specific questions,but more importantly avoiding scientific assertions at all in favor of meaningless triviality).

[James Ard]

I'll say it again. Tracking the earth's temperature only opens the door for the central planners to step in with their redistribution schemes.

[Colonel_Angus]

Absolutely no conclusions can be drawn by discussing this report, except for the conclusion that scientists can draw absolutely no conclusions from this report.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

I see the Ronald has gotten tired of our carping about the specifics of the figures he post.

Now I'm sorry.

[TallDave]

Clearly, all this CO2 has now reached a critical level where it creates catastophic cooling.

Extrapolating the last year's temps to 2100, my computer model has determined that global average temperatures will be -100 degrees. I suggest buying some real estate near an active volcano.

[Jim Carino]

Roy Spencer is on the board of directors of the George C. Marshall Institute. Enough said.

[KM8392]

it's interesting that these readings seem so different from NASA's when they use the same technology.

http://www.intellectualtakeout.....te-science

[Choney]

Goddamn denialist satellites!

[Mike M.]

I believe that NASA uses ground stations.

But yeah, this is yet another reason why I just can't bring myself to take this garbage seriously. The climatologists don't even agree on what the best method is for collecting the data! Is it any wonder that there's so much variation in the fucking numbers? Heck, NASA even admitted in one of the ClimateGate e-mails that they don't consider their own dataset to be reliable.

It's such a joke, it would be nothing but laughable if only the power elite weren't trying to use this crap to push their twisted agenda of control.

[Eliott]

Cherry picking data sure is fun!
Look at the graph again, the overall trend is towards warming.