Record High Global Temperature in September, January–September

Each of global oceans and global land temperatures also highest on record for the periods: NCDC/NOAA

State of the Climate Report – Blog Summary of Global highlights: September 2015

• The combined average temperature for global land and ocean surfaces in September 2015 was the highest for September in the 136-year period of record, at 0.90°C (1.62°F) above the 20^th century average of 15.0°C (59.0°F).  It surpassed previous record set in 2014 by 0.19°C.
  • September’s high temperature was also the greatest rise above average for any month in the 136-year historical record, surpassing the previous record set in both February and March this year by 0.02°F (0.01°C).
  • Seven months this year, including the past five, have been record warm for their respective months. January was the second warmest January on record and April third warmest.
• The September globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.16°C above the 20^th century average. This was also the highest for September in the 1880–2015 record.
  • Record warmth was observed across much of South America and parts of Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
•  September globally-averaged sea surface temperature was 0.81°C (1.46°F) above the 20^th century average of 16.2°C (61.1°F), the highest departure for September on record, beating the previous record set last year by 0.07°C (0.13°F).

Blog Summary of Global highlights: Year-to-date (January–September 2015)

• The year-to-date temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 0.85°C above the 20^th century average. This was the highest for January–September in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record set in 2014 by 0.12°C.
• The year-to-date globally-averaged land surface temperature was also the highest for January–September in the 1880–2015 record at 1.29°C above the 20^th century average. This value surpassed the previous record of 2007 by 0.17°C.
• The year-to-date globally-averaged sea surface temperature was 0.69°C above the 20^th century average and the highest for January–September in the 1880–2015 record. This value surpassed the previous record of 2010 by 0.06°C.

Precipitation

September rainfall across Australia was the third lowest for the month in the 116-year period of record. At only 6.2 mm, it was 37 percent of average precipitation.

The Southwest Monsoon rainfall in India, for the seasonal period June 1^st to September 30^th, was 86 percent of the 1951–2000 average. About half of India received deficient rainfall (less than 80 percent of average).

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for September 2015, published online October 2015, retrieved on October 22, 2015 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201509.

State of the Climate Report – Blog Summary of Global highlights: August 2015

• Global temperature at record high in August, June–August, January–August

‘Strong’ Quake Strikes Wellington, New Zealand

M4.4 strikes 30km east of NZ capital

Centered at 41.20S, 175.08E, the quake occurred at a depth of 6km, according to geonet.org.nz

Date/Time: October 22 2015, 9:43:59UTC

There were no immediate reports of damage, however the quake was described as “huge” in online chatter.

Search blog content for additional information concerning seismicity of New Zealand.

Recent Earthquakes – NZ Region

• ‘Severe’ Earthquake Strikes North Island, NZ October 12, 2015

Drought, Deluge Destroy Crops in 12 States

Crop Disasters Declared in Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, N. Carolina, Oklahoma, S. Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated a total 257 counties and parishes across 12 states as crop disaster areas due to drought and other extreme weather events.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 1

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 23 additional counties and parishes in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Arkansas.  Ashley, Chicot, Clark, Columbia, Desha, Drew, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller, Montgomery, Nevada, Ouachita, Pike, Polk and Sevier counties.
• Louisiana. East Carroll, Morehouse and West Carroll parishes.
• Mississippi. Bolivar, Issaquena and Washington counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 2

USDA has designated 56 additional parishes and counties in Louisiana,  Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Louisiana. Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, De-Soto, East-Baton, East-Carroll, East-Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin,  Grant, Iberville, Jefferson-Davis, Lafayette, LaSalle, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe-Coupee, Rapides, Richland, Rouge, Sabine, St-Helena, St-Landry, St.John-the-Baptist, St.Martin, St.Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Vernon,  Washington, West-Baton-Rouge, West-Carroll, West-Feliciana and Winn parishes.
• Arkansas. Chicot County.
• Mississippi. Adams, Issaquena, Pearl River, Warren, Amite, Jefferson, Pike, Wilkinson, Claiborne, Marion and Walthall counties.
• Texas. Newton, Sabine and Shelby counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 3

USDA has designated 57 additional counties and parishes in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Mississippi. Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson-Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Marion, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pearl-River, Perry, Pike, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Sunflower, Walthall, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson ans Winston counties.
• Louisiana. Concordia, East Feliciana, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Washington, and West Feliciana parishes.
• Arkansas. Chicot, Desha and Phillips counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 4

USDA has designated 10 counties in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Montana. Broadwater, Gallatin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Madison, Meagher and Park counties.
• Idaho. Fremont County.
• Wyoming. Park and Teton counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 5

USDA has designated 17 counties in Oklahoma and Texas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Oklahoma. Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Johnson, Latimer, Le Flore, Marshall, McCurtain, Murray, Pittsburg, Pontotoc and Pushmataha counties.
• Texas. Fannin, Grayson and Lamar counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 6

USDA has designated 46 counties in Texas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Texas. Blanco, Borden, Caldwell, Camp, Cherokee, Coke, Coleman, Comal, Concho, Crockett, Crosby, Dickens, Fisher, Franklin, Garza, Gregg, Guadalupe, Hays, Henderson, Hopkins, Howard, Irion, Jones, Kent, Kimble, King, McCulloch, Menard, Mitchell, Nolan, Rains, Reagan, Runnels, Rusk, Schleicher, Scurry, Smith, Sterling, Stonewall, Sutton, Taylor, Tom Green, Travis, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties.

Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 7

USDA has designated 48 counties in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that occurred from Sept. 22, 2015, through Oct. 4, 2015. Those areas are:

• North Carolina. Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Halifax, Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, NewHanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Surry, Tyrrell, Washington, Watauga, Wayne, Wilkes, Wilson and Yadkin counties.
• South Carolina. Dillon and Horry counties.
• Tennessee. Johnson County.
• Virginia. Grayson County.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Oct. 21, 2015 .

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 3,353 counties and county equivalents across 43 States [as well as Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands]: Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.

• About 99 percent of the 2015 crop disaster designations are due to drought so far this year.

Crop Disasters 2014

In 2014, USDA declared crop disasters in at least 2,904 counties across 44 states. Most of the designations were due to drought.

Those states were:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan. Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. [FIRE-EARTH has documented all of the above listings. See blog content.]

Notes:
i. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.

ii. The counties designated as agricultural disaster areas, as listed above, include both primary and contiguous disaster areas.

iii. Some counties may have been designated as crop disaster areas more than once due to multiple disasters.

iv. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.

Related Links

• Drought, Freeze… Kill Crops in 173 Counties across 7 States October 16, 2015
• Drought Destroys or Damages Crops in Three U.S. States October 8, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared across Multiple Areas October 1, 2015
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

2ND Major Disaster Declaration for Washington

Federal Disaster Declared in Washington State

Washington Wildfires and Mudslides (DR-4243)
Incident period: August 09, 2015 to September 10, 2015
Major Disaster Declaration declared on October 20, 2015

The White House has declared a major disaster exists in the State of Washington  in the areas affected by the wildfires and mudslides including Chelan, Ferry, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Whatcom, and Yakima counties and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments, said the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.

Federal Disasters 2015

The federal government has proclaimed 39 Major Disaster Declaration [DR 4205-4243] for a U.S. state/tribal area/territory so far this year. Additionally, the government has issued two Emergency Declarations, EM-3372 and EM-3373, and 33 Fire Management Assistance Declarations, [FM-5084 to FM-5116] for the year to date.

Major Disaster Declarations Since August 2015

• Major Disaster Declared for Washington [DR-4242] October 16, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared in South Carolina [DR-4241] October 6, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared in California Wildfire [DR-4240]  September 23, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared in Kentucky [DR-4239] August 14, 2015
• Major Disasters Declared in Missouri, W. Virginia, Pine Ridge Reservation, S. Dakota [DR-4236 to DR-4238] August 9, 2015
• Super Typhoon SOUDELOR: Federal disaster declared for Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands [DR-4235] August 6, 2015
• Major Disaster Declared in Iowa [DR-4234] August 3, 2015
• Federal Disaster Declarations
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index