New Data: Climate Records Crumbled in April

Friday will mark three years that I’ve been working here at the National Wildlife Federation, tracking the latest climate science & bringing it to you here at Wildlife Promise. But it’s not exactly a happy anniversary — not only is the Senate still moving in fits & starts on clean energy & climate legislation, but April was one of the most alarming months ever for global warming.

The startling details from NASA & NOAA:

• Last month was the hottest April on record globally.

• January-April was the hottest first 4 months of the year on record globally.

• Confirming a prediction NASA scientists made just two months ago, we’ve broken the 12-month running average temperature record.

• Here in the United States, NOAA reports that April was 2.3 degrees F above the long-term average.

• According to the Rutgers Snow Lab, North America had the smallest snow cover extent on record for April (dating back to 1966).

• NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center reports a preliminary count of 197 tornadoes in April. That would be the 8th highest number of April tornadoes on record.

“Also note that sea surface temperatures in the main development region for hurricanes in the tropical Atlantic are especially high,” National Wildlife Federation Climate Scientist Amanda Staudt told me in an email. “That doesn’t bode well for the hurricane season.”

So while the media & climate deniers sit around debating meaningless emails, the actual climate science continues to get scarier.

Photo via Flickr’s ClimateSafety