Contents of this Section:

• Introduction
• Temperatures
• Precipitation
>
• References

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Global Highlights

• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for July 2010 was the second warmest on record, behind 1998, at 16.5°C (61.6F), which is 0.66°C (1.19°F) above the 20^th century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F).
• The July worldwide land surface temperature was 1.03°C (1.85°F) above the 20^th century average of 14.3°C (57.8°F)—the warmest July on record.
• The worldwide ocean surface temperature was 0.54°C (0.97°F) above the 20^th century average of 16.4°C (61.5°F) and the fifth warmest July on record. The warmth was most pronounced in the Atlantic Ocean.
• La Niña conditions developed during July 2010, as sea surface temperatures (SST) continued to drop across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, La Niña is expected to strengthen and last through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2010-2011.
• For the year-to-date, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature of 14.5°C (58.1°F) was the warmest January-July period on record. This value is 0.68°C (1.22°F) above the 20^th century average.

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Please Note: The data presented in this report are preliminary. Ranks and anomalies may change as more complete data are received and processed. Effective with the July 2009 State of the Climate Report, NCDC transitioned to the new version (version 3b) of the extended reconstructed sea surface temperature (ERSST) dataset. ERSST.v3b is an improved extended SST reconstruction over version 2. For more information about the differences between ERSST.v3b and ERSST.v2 and to access the most current data, please visit NCDC's Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

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Introduction

Temperature anomalies for July 2010 are shown on the dot maps below. The dot map on the left provides a spatial representation of anomalies calculated from the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) dataset of land surface stations using a 1961–1990 base period. The dot map on the right is a product of a merged land surface and sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly analysis developed by Smith et al. (2008). For the merged land surface and SST analysis, temperature anomalies with respect to the 1971–2000 average for land and ocean are analyzed separately and then merged to form the global analysis. For more information, please visit NCDC's Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

July

Large portions of each inhabited continent were substantially warmer than average during July 2010, contributing to the global land-only record warmth. The areas with the most anomalous warmth were Europe, western Russia, and parts of eastern Asia. Cooler-than-average conditions were present across western Alaska, southern South America, eastern Kazakhstan, and central Russia. The worldwide land surface temperature was 1.03°C (1.85°F) above the 20^th century average—this value represented the warmest July on record, surpassing the previous record set in 1998. Meanwhile, the worldwide ocean surface temperature represented the fifth warmest July on record. Warmer-than-average SSTs were present across the Atlantic, Indian, and western North Pacific oceans. The warmth was most pronounced in the Atlantic Ocean. Cooler-than-average SSTs were present across the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean, and the southern oceans. La Niña conditions developed during July 2010, as sea surface temperatures (SSTs) continued to drop across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC), La Niña conditions are expected to strengthen and last through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2010-2011. Overall, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2010 was the second warmest July—behind 1998—on record since records began in 1880. The combined global land and ocean temperature anomaly was 0.66°C (1.19°F) above the 20^th century average, falling only 0.04°C (0.07°F) short of tying the record set in 1998.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Australia experienced above average maximum and minimum temperatures during July 2010. Regionally, Tasmania experienced its warmest average maximum temperature for July, which was 1.90°C (3.42°F) above the 1961-1990 average. It was reported that Timber Creek and Bradshaw (located in the north of the Northern Territory) recorded their warmest day for the month as temperatures soared to 37.5°C (99.5°F)—this value surpassed the previous July record by 0.1°C (0.2°F). Meanwhile, South Australia had an average maximum temperature anomaly of -0.57°C (-1.03°F)—its coolest since July 1998.

Average minimum temperatures across Australia were 1.32°C (2.38°F) above average, resulting in the warmest minimum temperature for Australia since July 1998 and the sixth warmest July minimum temperature since national records began in 1949, according to BoM. Regionally, Queensland had its warmest minimum temperature anomaly for July (2.91°C [5.24°F]) since 1993 and the third warmest since national records began over six decades ago. The Northern Territory had warmer-than-average minimum temperatures, with 2.12°C (3.82°F) above average—this was the warmest minimum temperature for July since 1998 and the sixth warmest since national records began. On the contrary, Victoria had below-average minimum temperatures (-0.37°C [-0.67°F] below average), resulting in the coolest minimum temperature since 1998.

According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), July 2010 was extremely warm across central and southern parts of Finland, setting many new temperature records. Finland set a new all-time maximum temperature record on July 29^th when temperatures soared to 37.2°C (99.0°F) at Joensuu Airport in Liperi, surpassing the previous record set in Turku in July 1914 by 1.3°C (2.3°F). The month was also characterized by many hot days. It was reported that at Utti, Lahti, Heinola, and Puumala had a total of 27 days (out of 31) that observed maximum temperatures exceeding 25°C (77°F), setting a new record for number of hot days. The previous record was set in 2003 when 22 days exceeded 25°C (77°F).

The July 2010 average temperature across China was 22.8°C (73.0°F), which is 1.4°C (2.5°F) above the 1971-2000 average—resulting as the warmest July since 1961, according to the Beijing Climate Center (BCC). The provinces of Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, and Qinghai had their warmest July since 1961, while Beijing, Guangxi, Gansu, and Ningxia had their second warmest July since 1961.

According to the German Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst), Germany experienced warmer-than-average conditions during July 2010. The mean temperature for Germany was 20.3°C (68.5°F), which is 3.4°C (6.1°F) above the 1961-1990 average—resulting in the fourth warmest July since 1901, behind 2006, 1994, and 1983.

Moscow, Russia was engulfed by a severe heat wave during much of July. On July 30^th, 2010 Moscow set a new all-time temperature record when temperatures reached 39°C (102°F), exceeding the previous record of 37.2°C (99.0°F) set four days earlier. Before 2010, the highest maximum temperature recorded in Moscow was 36.8°C (98.2°F) set nine decades ago.

Below average temperatures were widespread across southern South America during July. According to the Argentinean Meteorological Service, monthly temperature anomalies of 2-3°C (4-5°F) below average were widespread across the country. A cold snap during the middle of the month brought temperatures 12°C (21°F) below average for several days. The cold snap also affected Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, and Peru. Minimum temperatures as low as -24°C (-11°F) were reported in the Andes Mountains. The temperature in Lima, Peru dropped to 8°C (46°F), the coldest temperature recorded in the city in over four decades.

Year-to-date (January–July)

The January–July 2010 map of temperature anomalies shows that anomalous warm temperatures were present over much of the world, with the exception of cooler-than-average conditions across the higher-latitude southern oceans, the northern Pacific Ocean, along the western South American coast, Mongolia, and central Russia. The combined global average land and ocean surface temperature for January–July period was the warmest such period on record. This value is 0.68°C (1.22°F) above the 20^th century average. Separately, the average worldwide land surface temperature ranked as the warmest on record, while the worldwide average ocean surface temperature ranked as the second warmest January–July on record—behind 1998.

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The average position of the upper-level ridges of high pressure and troughs of low pressure (depicted by positive and negative 500-millibar height anomalies on the July 2010 map, respectively) are generally reflected by areas of positive and negative temperature anomalies at the surface, respectively. For other Global products, please see the Climate Monitoring Global Products page.

Images of sea surface temperature conditions are available for all weeks during 2009 from the weekly SST page.

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Temperature Rankings and Graphics

Current Month | Year-to-date

The most current data may be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.

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Precipitation

The maps below represent anomaly values based on the GHCN dataset of land surface stations using a base period of 1961–1990. Precipitation anomalies on a month-to-month basis are often highly variable across the globe and even within regions. The areas with the wettest anomalies during July 2010 included Central America, the British Isles, the central contiguous U.S., northern South America, and parts of central and southern India, and eastern Asia. The driest anomalies were present across northern India and across parts eastern Asia, and the Hawaiian Islands.

Australia as a whole received an average of 34.4 mm (1.4 inches) of precipitation during July 2010—this was 55 percent above the 1961-1990 average and the highest value since 1998. Overall, northern and central areas experienced wetter-than-averag

Smith, et al (2008), Improvements to NOAA's Historical Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (1880-2006), J. Climate., 21, 2283-2293.

e conditions, while the southern areas had drier-than-average conditions. Regionally, the Northern Territory had its fifth wettest July on record and the wettest since 1998. The Northern Territory received an average of 40.1 mm (1.6 inches), which is 483 percent above the 1961-1990 average. Also, the Murray Darling Basin region experienced its wettest July since 1998, receiving 37 percent above-average precipitation (BoM).

According to the Beijing Climate Center, the monthly averaged precipitation in China was 121.2 mm (4.8 inches) during July 2010, which is 5.3 mm (0.2 inch) above the 1971-2000 average. Much needed rain fell across most of the Northeast, the southeastern Northwest, Jianghuai, and Tibet during July 2010, alleviating drought in these areas. However, drought began to develop in most of North China, including Inner Mongolia and northern Shannxi. During July 2010, Typhoon Conson and Typhoon Chanthu made landfall in the country on July 16^th and on July 22^nd, respectively. The storms caused nearly 5.8 billion yuan (859.1 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses and claimed the lives of eleven people in Guangdong, Hainan, and Guangxi provinces.

According to the U.K. Met Office, the U.K. as a whole received an average of 109.7 mm (4.3 inches) of precipitation, which is 157 percent above the 1971-2000 average. Overall, west Wales through north-west England, southern and eastern Scotland to Shetland received over twice the July average precipitation. Provisionally, Scotland had its third wettest July in 100 years of record.

According to Mexico's National Water Commision (CONAGUA), Mexico experienced its wettest July since 1941.

Other notable events during July 2010 included the heavy rainfall associated with the annual monsoon in Pakistan, causing deadly floods. Over 302 mm (12 inches) of rain fell between July 28^th and July 30^th in the Peshawar province. It was reported that the flooding was the worst since 1929.

Additional details on flooding and drought can also be found on the July 2010 Global Hazards page.

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References

Peterson, T.C. and R.S. Vose, 1997: An Overview of the Global Historical Climatology Network Database. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 78, 2837-2849.

Quayle, R.G., T.C. Peterson, A.N. Basist, and C. S. Godfrey, 1999: An operational near-real-time global temperature index. Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 333-335.

Smith, T.M., and R.W. Reynolds (2005), A global merged land air and sea surface temperature reconstruction based on historical observations (1880-1997), J. Clim., 18, 2021-2036.

Smith, et al (2008), Improvements to NOAA's Historical Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (1880-2006), J. Climate., 21, 2283-2293.

Smith, et al (2008), Improvements to NOAA's Historical Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (1880-2006), J. Climate., 21, 2283-2293.

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