Temperatures Were Colder in November, but Climate Change Continues
Global warming is a misnomer. “Warming” makes it sound as if the climate will get hotter at a steady, predictable pace—like a pot of soup heating on the stove. But that’s not how our enormously complex climate system works. The increasing concentration of carbon dioxide and other warming gases in the atmosphere is just one of many factors affecting the global climate—including the natural year-to-year variability that has always been at work. Over the short term, temperatures can rise and fall like the fluctuating value of a single company in the stock market. But the long-term trends—the important trends—remain unchanged.
Case in point: the National Climatic Data Center revealed yesterday that the average temperature in the contiguous U.S. in November was 41.6 F—0.3 F below the 20th century average. That’s unusual—as the U.S. and the rest of the planet has warmed, most months in the country have been hotter than the average of the last century, which is considered a benchmark for a normal climate. (Globally, there hasn’t been a month with average temperatures lower than the 20th century mark for nearly 29 years.) In fact, there were nearly three times as many record cold daily highs and lows in November (2,238 altogether) as record warm daily highs and lows (749 combined).
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