1998 off to Warmest, Wettest Start Ever

[CNN - Environmental News Network, 3/11/98]

Ever since Americans began keeping records of the weather 104 years ago, there has not been a wetter and warmer January and February than this year, according to the temperature and precipitation measurements for the lower 48 states compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"During the period January-February the national average temperature was 37.5 degrees Fahrenheit compared with a normal of 32.1. The previous record was 37.0 in 1990. For precipitation, 6.01 inches fell, compared with a normal of 4.05. The previous record was 5.7 inches in 1979," said William Brown of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.

Yet for the winter as a whole -- which includes December -- temperatures and precipitation were not as extreme. This past winter was the second warmest on record and only the seventh wettest.

The normal national average temperature for the winter months of December, January and February is 32.3. This year's figure is 36.4. The record is 36.6 set in 1991-1992.

For the three-month period, the country normally receives 6.35 inches of precipitation. This year's figure is 7.96 inches, compared with 8.5 inches in 1932.

According to NOAA's records, California and North Dakota had their wettest February on record. Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Rhode Island and Virginia had their second wettest February since 1895. The warmest February on record took place in much of the upper Midwest and parts of the East, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

"These are the patterns one would typically expect during a strong El Nino event," said Ants Leetmaa, director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Maryland.

"With the newest figures, the long-term trend of increasing temperatures and precipitation in the United States continues," said Tom Karl, senior scientist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina. "These record-breaking statistics are generally consistent with both a strong El Nino and climate model projections of a continuing trend toward a warmer and wetter world as greenhouse gases continue to increase."

NOAA predicts that similar wet and warm weather patterns are expected to continue through March and April. In the summer, at least slightly warmer than normal conditions are expected across Southern California, the Southwest and much of the East Coast.

El Nino conditions in the tropical Pacific will gradually diminish through the summer with ocean temperatures returning to normal later in the year.