Individual and Community

Besides having the warmest winter in recorded history, UN scientists discovered that global warming also destroys crops, producing damages estimated at $5 billion.

According to scientists at NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. , the last winter, from December 2006 to February 2007, was the warmest in Earth’s recorded history.

Precipitation in the US was above average in the center, while large sections of the East, Southeast and West were drier than average. The global average temperature was the warmest on record for the December-February period.

The winter temperature for the contiguous United States (based on preliminary data) was 33.6 degrees F (0.9 degrees C). The 20th century average is 33.0 degrees F (0.6 degrees C). Statewide temperatures were warmer than average from Florida to Maine and from Michigan to Montana. Cooler-than-average temperatures occurred in the southern Plains and areas of the Southwest.

The 11th warmest December on record occurred in 2006.

In January, the coldest climate was registered in Southern Plains and in the West, determined by upper-level wind patterns. States like Arizona, Texas and even Southern California experienced snow and ice, with California suffering important losses in orange production.

More typical winter conditions finally arrived in the eastern United States by late January and a period of colder-than-normal temperatures persisted through President’s Day weekend.

February was 1.8 degrees F (0.9 degrees C) below the 20th century average of 34.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C), placing it in the top third coldest Februarys in the 113-year record for the contiguous U.S. Thirty-six states in the eastern two-thirds of the nation were cooler than average, while Texas and the eleven states of the West were near average to warmer-than-average.

NOAA came up with a positive aspect of global warming: the use of energy in residential areas dropped 3% last winter, compared to average climate conditions for the same period. Had February been warmer, energy consumption would have been even smaller. Overall, February’s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index (REDTI—an index developed at NOAA to relate energy usage to climate) was approximately six percent higher than what would have occurred under average climate conditions for this interval.

For Alaska, both February (1.4 degrees F/0.8 degrees C) and winter (1.6 degrees F/0.9 degrees C) were warmer than average but far from the record warmth of 2003 and 2001, respectively.

“Contributing factors were the long-term trend toward warmer temperatures as well as a moderate El Nino in the Pacific,” Jay Lawrimore of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center said in a telephone interview with Reuters from Asheville, North Carolina.

According to him, the next-warmest winter on record was in 2004, and the third warmest winter was in 1998.

The ten warmest years on record have occurred since 1995.

“So we know as a part of that, the conclusions have been reached and the warming trend is due in part to rises in greenhouse gas emissions,” Lawrimore said. “By looking at long-term trends and long-term changes, we are able to better understand natural and anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change.”

Winter precipitation was above average from the Upper Midwest to New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana.

At the end of February, water-year precipitation in Los Angeles was the lowest on record, less than 25 percent of normal. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 25 percent of the continental U.S. was in moderate-to-exceptional drought at the end of February. The most severe conditions were in southwest Texas, northern Minnesota, Wyoming and the western High Plains.

Separately, the global December-February land-surface temperature was the warmest on record, while the ocean-surface temperature tied for second warmest in the 128-year period of record, approximately 0.1 degree F (0.06 degrees C) cooler than the record established during the very strong El Niño episode of 1997-1998.

Oceans worldwide absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994 according to a report published last year by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and NOAA, resulting in increased ocean acidity, which reduces the availability of carbonate ions needed for the production of calcium carbonate structures. In the past, changes in ocean acidity have triggered mass extinction events. According to a study published in the September issue of Geology, dramatically warmer and more acidic oceans may have contributed to the worst mass extinction on record, the Permian extinction. During the extinction event, which occurred some 250 million years ago, about 95% of ocean’s life forms became extinct. The same fate could befall modern day marine life.

A draft U.N. report obtained by Reuters on Thursday said warming is expected to turn the planet a bit greener by spurring plant growth, but crops and forests may wilt beyond mid-century if temperatures keep rising. That report, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will be released on April 6.

The conclusions are negative for agriculture: it appears that the global warming process has produced damages to almost every commonly grown grains over 20 years. The damages are estimated at $5 billion.

Warming temperatures from 1981 to 2002 cut the combined production of wheat, corn, barley and other crops by 40 million tonnes per year.

(NOAA’s study can be found here.)

source: http://www.playfuls.com/news_005543_Global_Warming_Makes_US_Winter_Warmer_and_Drier_Kills_Crops.html