Drought, cold, and massive storms were among the devastating climate-related events that struck the United States in 2012. These events were incredibly destructive and disruptive for people across the country.

The average temperature for the contiguous United States for 2012 was 55.3° Fahrenheit, which was 3.2° Fahrenheit above the twentieth-century average and 1.0° Fahrenheit above the previous record from 1998.

The average global temperature for November 2012 was the fifth warmest November since record keeping began in 1880.

Deke Arndt, Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch, at the National Climatic Data Center talks about the influence of La Niña on the 2011 global average temperature. 

The November nationally averaged precipitation total of 1.19 inches was nearly an inch below the long-term average, making this the eighth driest November on record.

It’s natural to associate drought with heat and with summer, but drought also impacts us during winter months. Winter wheat yields are declining, and the Mississippi River is approaching an all-time low. Understanding drought conditions and how they are affecting us is part of being “climate smart.”  

It may seem remote from our everyday lives, but the Arctic exerts a powerful influence on the rest of the planet. From rising sea level, to U.S. and European weather, to bird migrations, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco describes how Arctic climate change can influence the rest of the planet.

The summer of 2012 brought Greenland far more extensive melt than anything observed in the satellite record: in July 2012, surface melt extended over nearly the entire ice sheet. The standardized melt index was nearly double the previous record.

Melt ponds, snow loss, and other warming-induced changes are making the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet far less reflective in the summer than it was even a decade ago. The darker ice surface absorbs more sunlight than it once did, accelerating warming and melting.

Few real-world signs of climate change are easier to read than changes in the growing season of familiar vegetation. Most of the high-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing longer growing seasons now than they did more than two and half decades ago.