2017 set new pace diverging from weather norms

rainfalRainfal.photo. pixabay.com

2017 is not completely over, but the main features are clear. Norway has been both warmer, and wetter than the norm. Globally, development is even more disturbing.

‘The year behind us has not been the warmest, but we see that the trend of higher temperatures is persisting,’ said Klimevakt, Anne Solveig Andersen at the Meteorological Institute.

‘The figures so far show that we were 1.2 degrees above the average,’ said  Andersen.

The ‘normal’ period is calculated from between 1961 to 1990.

2017 is set at approximataely 20th place, and is a bit down from 2014, which was a particularly hot year (2.2 degrees above the norm).

Winter shrinks

But meteorologists see a clear pattern, that winters are shrinking.

‘The main thing is that winter is getting warmer. January especially was 3.9 degrees above normal temperatures. Also February and March were warm, with 2.7 and 2 degrees above the norm, respectively.

Although many thought that the summer was somewhat cool, Andersen could tell that for the mainland as a whole, it was normal.

More rain

Regarding rainfall, it has rained more than 120% above the norm.

Nor was 2017 a record year.

‘This year has not been among the five wettest,’ she said, although living in
Bergen, she admits that they were quite moist.

‘We observe several cases of drizzle, and that the rain lasts longer,’ she said.

Dramatic developments on Svalbard

On Svalbard, developments were dramatic. The temperature on Svalbard, before

Christmas was at 9 degrees above the norm. Thus, it was the 85th month in a row with a higher cut-off temperature than normal.

2017 will appear to end at 4.5 degrees above the average temperature, the Meteorological Institute announced earlier this month.

Global increases

Global figures show that November was the third warmest November measured over the past 137 years, according to the NASA Institute, GISS.

This November was 0.87 degrees higher than the average November temperature between 1951 and 1980. The hottest November so far was recorded in 2015, at 1.03 degrees above the norm. The reason for the heat record that year was caused by the weather phenomenon El Niño, which was particularly strong that year.

All the last three months of November have been the hottest since measurements began in 1880.

Looking at the period between December 2016 through November 2017, it was the second warmest period, only beaten by

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today