The new average annual temperature in the United States is half a degree Celsius higher than it was two decades ago, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its latest data.
According to the recommendation of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), experts calculate the normal climatic values for an area based on 30 years of data. These three decades are long enough for daily weather fluctuations not to distort the statistics. NOAA updates climate benchmark values for the United States as a whole every ten years, according to the agency’s website.
Based on data from 1991 to 2020, the average annual temperature in the United States is currently 11.8°C. Twenty years ago, the temperature was 11.3 ° C, calculated from 1971 to 2000. In the twentieth century, the average temperature in the country was 11.1 ° C.
The new average annual temperature in the United States is 0.9 °C warmer than the first normal value calculated for the period 1901-1930.
According to NOAA Principal Project Director Michael Palecki, while the new average temperature in Fargo, North Dakota, for example, is slightly cooler than before, more than 90 percent of the United States now has an average temperature Hotter than it was ten years ago.
Experts say the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for the rising indicators.
According to the new climatic standards, it is not only warmer, but wetter in the eastern and central parts of the country, and the weather in the western half is drier than it was a decade ago.
