July 2012 temperatures in the United States. Credit: NOAA

New NOAA data released today show that: “The average global temperature for July 2012 was more than 1°Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average, making it the fourth warmest July since record keeping began in 1880. July 2012 also marks the 36th consecutive July and the 329th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average. The last July with below-average temperature was July 1976, and the last month with below-average temperature was February 1985.” Read more…

James Hansen and colleagues use the bell curve to how the growing frequency of extreme summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, compared to the 1951 to 1980 base period.
Credit: NASA

Featured by NASA, a member of the U.S. Global Change Research Program

James Hansen and colleagues use the bell curve to how the growing frequency of extreme summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, compared to the 1951 to 1980 base period.

“A new statistical analysis by NASA scientists has found that Earth's land areas have become much more likely to experience an extreme summer heat wave than they were in the middle of the 20th century. The statistics show that the recent bouts of extremely warm summers, including the intense heat wave afflicting the U.S. Midwest this year, very likely are the consequence of global warming, according to lead author James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.”

In a statement released in response to the paper, Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said:

“While it remains true that no single, extreme weather event can be proven to have been caused by climate change, this report underscores what climate scientists have been saying for decades—climate change makes high temperatures more likely. This work, which finds that extremely hot summers are over 10 times more common than they used to be, reinforces many other lines of evidence showing that climate change is occurring and that it is harmful.” Read more

July 2012 temperatures in the United States.
Credit: NOAA

Featured by NOAA, a member of the U.S. Global Change Research Program

According to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature for the contiguous United States during July was 77.6°F, which is 3.3°F above the 20th-century average. This marks the warmest July and–given that July is the typically the warmest month of the year—the warmest month on record for the nation. Read more

Federal Register Notice: 

"National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee 

 

(NCADAC); Open Meeting"

 pdf | html

Time and Date: The meeting will be held Wednesday, August 15, 2012 from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Place: This meeting will be a conference call. Public access will be available at the office of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Conference Room A, Suite 250, 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20006. Please check the National Climate Assessment Web site for additional information at http://www.globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment

Status: The meeting will be open to public participation with a 10-minute public comment period from 4:45-4:55 p.m. The NCADAC expects that public statements presented at its meetings will not be repetitive of previously submitted verbal or written statements. In general, each individual or group making a verbal presentation will be limited to a total time of two minutes. Written comments should be received in the NCADAC Designated Federal Officials (DFO) office by Friday, August 10, 2012, to provide sufficient time for NCADAC review. Written comments received by the NCADAC DFO after Friday, August 10, 2012, will be distributed to the NCADAC, but may not be reviewed prior to the meeting date.

Special Accommodations: These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for special accommodations may be directed no later than 12 p.m. on Friday, August 10, 2012, to Dr. Cynthia Decker, SAB Executive Director, SSMC3, Room 11230, 1315 East-West Hwy., Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Matters To Be Considered: Please refer to the Web page 
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/NCADAC/index.html for the most up-to-date meeting agenda, when available.

For Further Information Contact: Dr. Cynthia Decker, Designated Federal Official, National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, NOAA OAR, R/SAB, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910. (Phone: 301–734–1156, Fax: 301–713–1459, Email: Cynthia.Decker@noaa.gov.

Supplementary Information: The National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee was established in December 2010. The committee's mission is to synthesize and summarize the science and information pertaining to current and future impacts of climate change upon the United States; and to provide advice and recommendations toward the development of an ongoing, sustainable national assessment of global change impacts and adaptation and mitigation strategies for the Nation. Within the scope of its mission, the committee's specific objective is to produce a National Climate Assessment.

Dated: July 18, 2012.

[FR Doc. 2012-18034 Filed 7-24-12; 8:45 am]