365 Days of Climate Awareness 145 – 2006 State of the Climate, North America and Europe

2006 US Climate Data

• Global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 381.15 ppm, +2.17 ppm from 2005
• Average air temperature: 55.9°F, 8^th all-time 1895-2021
• Average precipitation: 27.25”, 83^rd wettest 1895-2021
• Tornadoes: 1106, 128 (10%) below the 1991-2010 average 1228
• 9 named tropical cyclones: 5 became hurricanes, 2 major (winds > 111 mph, 3-5 Saffir-Simpson)
• ENSO: Weak La Niña through April, neutral through August, El Niño through year’s end

North American Conditions

• Warmer than average: All of US (especially Midwest and south; NJ record warmth); Canada; Mexico; Europe
• Drought: Southeastern US; Upper Midwest; Texas; Great Plains (more than 50% of the US by the end of July)
• Above-average precipitation: New England; Midwest; Pacific Northwest; Mexico; Eastern
  Europe
• Wildfires: 9.8 million acres (then-record)
  

Wetter-than-average conditions across the northern part of the country balanced with drought across the south and plains to produce a relatively average overall year for precipitation in the US, an indication of how deceptive aggregate statistics can be. This is partly the reasoning behind looking for examples of “global weirding”, when singular or rare events demonstrate an imbalanced system. One-off events or heightened contrasts within a system can be masked by regional or global averages.

In any given year, there will be anomalies both above and below long-term means. This is the nature of any system. Increasing variance of extremes—statistically, a growing standard deviation from these means—is one indicator of a system losing balance. An accelerating trend in the long-term mean is another, such as long-term ice loss in Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean. When studying global climate, it is very important to look on multiple spatial and temporal scales for patterns which might otherwise remain hidden. That is one of the ongoing riddles in the log-term (multiyear to multi-decadal) patterns which scientists investigate.

2006 Percentage of US States Very Warm vs Very Cold

The below-average North American hurricane season seems due partly to the weak El Niño, which produced the upper-level westerlies which increase tropospheric wind shear and impede the vertical development of tropical cyclones.

 

2006 Percentage of US States Very Warm vs Very Cold

Tomorrow: 2006 State of the World Climate.

Be brave, and be well.