Talking Heat in More Ways than One

Around the world, 2016 was the hottest year on record. That makes three years in a row of record setting heat. A review of the numbers by both NASA and NOAA show that globally the average temperatures have increased by over 1.5″ degrees. I’ll have more on that part of the heat story in a moment.  Right here at home our weather has certainly been warmer than we normal. Temperatures over the past 9 days have all been above average and tomorrow will be too.

The jet stream is in an unusual position for this time of year allowing warmer and more moist air to surge into Middle Tennessee. Today was cooler than it has been, with a high of 51, but a warm front will move across our area tonight and bring back the warmer air.  Rain will also spread across the mid state overnight through tomorrow before exiting Friday. Here’s the latest from Futurecast.

Through Friday morning, 1″ to 2″ of rain is possible. Although flooding is not expected, there could be some standing water on roads, ponding in low spots and rapidly rising streams.

Friday there will be a break from the rain, temperatures will remain warm.  Another disturbance will spread rain across Middle Tennessee.  Again 1″ to 2″ of rain will be possible and again temperatures will remain warm.

Now back to the global heat, 2016 is the hottest year on record.

Here’s a little explanation from Climate Central on how both NOAA and NASA came to their conclusions, “NOAA’s calculation shows the globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces was 1.69°F (0.94°C) above the 20th century average. NASA indicated a temperature 1.82°F (1.01°C) above that average. The calculations between the two agencies differ only slightly, as NASA’s calculations are extrapolated to account for polar locations with poor station coverage, while NOAA relies more heavily on the polar station data. But both agencies’ calculations show the same warming trends.”

A couple of other interesting facts: the five  hottest years on record have come since 2010 and the 10 hottest years have come since 1998.

You can read more about this new record on Climate Central’s website click here.

I’ll have an update on our local weather on Channel 4 News at 10pm.

Lisa Spencer