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National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration scientists report that preliminary data
indicate the average temperature for the contiguous United States in
March was 47.7 degrees F, which was 5.2 degrees above the 1895-2003
mean and the third warmest March on record. Florida was the only
state with a near normal March temperature. The mean temperature in
17 western and central states was much above average, including New
Mexico, which had its warmest March on record. An additional 30
states were warmer than average. The Southwest region as a whole had
its warmest March on record. Conversely, Alaska was cooler than
average, with a statewide temperature that was 1.8 degrees below the
1971-2000 mean.
Precipitation for the
contiguous United States was below average, with much of the West,
Southeast and Northeast drier than normal. However, wetter than
average conditions occurred in 12 states along a broad path from
Texas to Minnesota. The Southeast region, consisting of states from
Alabama to Virginia, had its driest March on record. The
January-March 2004 period was generally drier than average for much
of the East Coast in marked contrast to 2003, which had record or
near record precipitation for many states.
Below average precipitation
occurred in many areas of the West, where drought has persisted for
much of the past four to five years. The drier than average
conditions and much warmer than normal temperatures contributed to
record snowpack losses during the month of March and left mountain
snowpack levels below average in most parts of the West. Despite the
rapid snowmelt, reservoir levels remained below average in many
areas. By the end of the month, the drought area had expanded to
include 59 percent of the western United States in moderate to
extreme drought, based on a widely used measure of drought, the
Palmer Drought Index. By contrast, the most extensive drought on
record for the West occurred in July 1934, when 97 percent of the
region was in moderate to extreme drought.
Based on preliminary data, the
average global surface temperature for combined land and ocean
surfaces during March 2004 was 1.3 degrees above the 1880-2003
long-term mean. This was the second warmest March since 1880, which
was the beginning of reliable instrumental records, and slightly
cooler than March 2002.
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Land surface temperatures were
anomalously warm throughout most parts of the world, while
temperatures in much of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific
remained near average as the neutral phase of El Nino/Southern
Oscillation continued. A heat wave in eastern Australia continued
during the first three weeks of March, and much of the continent was
drier than normal for the month. Other areas with below average
precipitation included large parts of eastern China, southwest Asia,
and much of western Europe. Areas with above average precipitation
included much of Russia, the Amazon Basin and parts of Eastern
Europe.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's satellites and information service is
the nation's primary source of space-based meteorological and
climate data. It operates the nation's environmental satellites,
which are used for weather forecasting, climate monitoring and other
environmental applications, such as fire detection, ozone monitoring
and sea surface temperature measurements.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration also operates three data
centers, which house global databases in climatology, oceanography,
solid earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics,
solar-terrestrial physics, and paleoclimatology.
To learn more about
the NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information
Service, visit
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov.
As part of the U.S. Commerce
Department, NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and
national safety through the prediction and research of weather and
climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of
the nation's coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA,
please visit http://www.noaa.gov.
Links to data, graphics and analysis related to this article, in
addition to further national and global data, are available at
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/
research/2004/mar/mar04.html.
[National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
news release]
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