With a large chunk of the U.S. having endured one of the coldest Thanksgiving holidays in years and even more brutally cold weather in the forecast over the next few days, 2013 is poised to have daily record lows outnumber daily record highs for the first time in 20 years.
That’s a stark reversal from last year — the warmest year on record in the U.S. — when record daily highs dwarfed record lows by a staggering 4-to-1 ratio. It’s also a stark reminder of the vagaries of short-term natural variability set against the backdrop of long-term global warming.
According to statistics from the National Climatic Data Center, the U.S. had 9,023 daily record hightemperatures through Dec. 1, compared to 9,932 daily record lows. About 1,000 cold temperature records were set or tied during the last week alone.
Meanwhile, last year at this time, that ratio stood at about 5-to-1 in favor of record daily highs, with 32,232 record daily highs through Dec. 1, 2012, compared to just 6,234 record daily lows during that same period.
So far this year, warm temperature records overall, which includes record warm overnight lowtemperatures, are running slightly behind cold temperature records, with 24,084 warm temperature records set or tied compared to 24,957 cold temperature records.
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