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January 2012 the 19th warmest for the globe

State of the Climate – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Global temperature highlights: January 2012

  • “The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January 2012 was the 19th warmest on record at 54.30°F (12.39°C), which is 0.70°F (0.39°C) above the 20th century average of 53.6°F (12.0°C). The margin of error associated with this temperature is +/- 0.14°F (0.08°C). Separately, the global land surface temperature was 1.10°F (0.61°C) above the 20th century average of 37.0°F (2.8°C), making this the 26th warmest January on record. The margin of error is +/- 0.32°F (0.18°C). Warmer-than-average conditions occurred across most of North America, the northern latitudes of Europe and Asia, southern South America, and most of Australia. Cooler-than-average regions included China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, south central Russia, much of the Middle East, northern India, north Africa, and southwestern Greenland…The growth rate for Arctic sea ice in January was the slowest in the satellite record. The average sea ice extent for the month was 7.5 percent below average, ranking as the fourth smallest January extent since satellite records began in 1979. The extent was 425,000 square miles (1.1 million square kilometers) below average. This marks the 19th consecutive January and 128th consecutive month with below-average Arctic sea ice extent.”
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