New Normals on the Way

A new decade means a new set of normal temperatures and precipitation, according to the New York Times. I linked to UAH's Dr. Roy Spencer in this blog earlier in the week about the record tying satellite measured temperatures for 2010. In his report he also discussed the upcoming changes in the normals.
A typical climate normal is based on the weather pattern over a 30-year period.
The old normals were based on data from 1971-2000, according to the NYT article.

The new normals, which will be released later this year, will drop the cooler 1970's and add the 2000's, which is the warmest recorded decade in history, according to the NYT.
Based on the above, you can bet that the new normals are going to be a bit higher over a majority of regions across the world. The greatest increase in normals will likely be over the northern high latitudes, while the southern latitudes will see the least amount of change in their normal temperatures.

Read More