Last week's frigid weather included one of the coldest seven-day stretches in North Carolina's history, and on January 7th, the temperature hit minus 4 degrees in Raleigh, a new record low.
So, with the bitter cold fresh on our minds, the results of a recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) may come as a surprise: 2017 was the 3rd warmest year in U.S. history since records began being kept in 1895. And in North Carolina, last year's average temperature of 61 degrees tied the record set in 1990.
What we're seeing in the data is that we do still have cold weather patterns that can bring cold temperatures down from the poles into regions where we live in North America,” says Crouch. “But, we are seeing that these cold air outbreaks are occurring a lot less frequently. They're typically not lasting as long as they used to. And in general, we're also not seeing as cold of temperatures that we're used to in the past.
Short-term weather changes like these present the biggest communication challenges for climate scientists like Jake Crouch. Crouch is based in Asheville, and he compiled the data for the NOAA report. He says a climatologist's job is to study weather conditions over the long-term.
Crouch says a lot of the warmth North Carolina experienced in 2017 was due to record-breaking highs in February and April. He adds that there is very little mystery behind the rising temperatures.
The science that we do here at NOAA as well as other scientific agencies indicates that human activity is the primary cause of the warming that we're seeing, especially in terms of the globally averaged temperature,” says Crouch. “So, this report that came out earlier in the week just looked at the U.S. And we are seeing that warming trend in the U.S. temperature, but that is a global pattern that is showing up very clearly in the data.
2017 will also be remembered for record-breaking U.S. disasters that included floods, hurricanes, fires, and tornadoes. Last year's damages across the country exceeded $300 billion - the costliest year on record.