2006 Sixth Warmest Year Ever

2006 Sixth Warmest Year Ever

    
January 2007  - Globally, the 
year 2006 is estimated to be the sixth warmest year since 
recordkeeping began in 1880, according to records maintained 
by member governments of the World Meteorological 
Organization, WMO. Final figures will not be released until 
March 2007. 
Following established practice, WMO’s global temperature 
analyses are based on two different datasets. One is the 
combined dataset maintained by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met 
Office, and the Climatic Research Unit, University of East 
Anglia, UK. 
The other is maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA. Both 
indicate that 2006 is likely to be the sixth warmest year 
globally. 
The global mean surface temperature in 2006 was 0.42 degrees 
Celsius above the 1961-1990 annual average of 14°C or 57.2 
degrees Fahrenheit, the United Nations weather agency said. 
Since the start of the 20th century, the global average 
surface temperature has risen 0.7°C, but this rise has not 
been continuous. 
The steepest rise has occurred since 1976, at 0.18°C (.32°F) 
per decade. 
In the northern hemisphere, the 10 year period 1997-2006 
averaged 0.53°C above the 1961-1990 mean. 
And in the southern hemisphere temperatures averaged 0.27°C 
above the 1961-1990 mean. 
Historic Holes in the Ozone Layer 
Ozone depletion in the Antarctic reached a record level on 
September 25, 2006, with the ozone hole measured as slightly 
larger than the previous record seen in September 2000. 
The Antarctic ozone hole reached record size in September 
2006. (Photo courtesy NASA) 
“From September 21 to 30, 2006, the average area of the ozone 
hole was the largest ever observed, at 10.6 million square 
miles,” said Paul Newman, atmospheric scientist at NASA’s 
Goddard Space Flight Center. 
The size and persistence of the 2006 ozone hole area with its 
record ozone mass deficit of 40.8 megatons can be explained by 
the continuing presence of near-peak levels of ozone-depleting 
substances in combination with a particularly cold 
stratospheric winter, the WMO said. 
Low temperatures in the first part of January prompted a 20 
percent loss in the ozone layer over the Arctic in 2006, but 
the ozone loss was not as large as that seen in 2005. 
Dr. Neil Harris who helped compile the WMO's first Arctic 
Ozone Bulletin, issued in September 2006, said, “Thankfully 
the Arctic ozone loss was not too large in 2006. However with 
the cold winters becoming colder, it is important to use the 
international observing network to continue monitoring the 
Arctic stratosphere each year, so that there can be early 
warning of large losses.” 
The year 2006 continues the pattern of sharply decreasing 
Arctic sea ice, the WMO said. The average sea ice extent for 
the entire month of September was 5.9 million square 
kilometers, the second lowest on record. 
Including 2006, the September rate of sea ice decline is now 
nearly nine percent per decade, or 60,421 km² per year. 
Heat Waves and Drought 
The beginning of 2006 was unusually mild in large parts of 
North America and the western European Arctic islands, though 
there were harsh winter conditions in Asia, the Russian 
Federation and parts of eastern Europe. 
Canada experienced its mildest winter and spring on record and 
the United States its warmest January-September on record. 
Several parts of Europe experienced heat waves with record 
temperatures in July and August. The July European average 
land surface air temperature was the warmest on record at 
2.7°C above the climatological normal. 
British beaches were hot and crowded. Summer 2006 (Photo by 
Ian Britton courtesy FreeFoto) 
September to November was exceptional in large parts of Europe 
at more than 3°C warmer than the climatological normal from 
the north side of the Alps to southern Norway. 
In Brazil, heat waves were registered from January to March, 
including a temperature of 44.6°C (112.3°F) in Bom Jesus on 
January 31, one of the highest temperatures ever recorded in 
Brazil. 
Drought in the south of Brazil caused significant damage to 
agriculture in the early part of the year with losses of about 
11 per cent estimated for the soybean crop yield alone. 
Severe drought conditions also affected China. Millions of 
hectares of crops were damaged in Sichuan province during 
summer and in eastern China in autumn. Significant economic 
losses as well as severe shortages in drinking water were 
other consequences. 
Persistent extreme heat affected much of eastern Australia 
from late December 2005 until early March with many records 
being set. The second hottest day on record in Sydney was 
January 1, 2006 with a temperature of 44.2°C (111.6°F). 
Spring 2006 from September through November 2006 was 
Australia’s warmest since seasonal records were first compiled 
in 1950. 
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology today issued a report 
showing that the period from August to December 2006 was 
especially warm and dry across the southern half of the 
country. 
Averaged over the Murray-Darling Basin it was the driest such 
period on record as well as being the second warmest, with 
much of the central-west and southwest slopes of New South 
Wales having mean maximum temperatures more than 3°C (5.4°F) 
above the long-term average. 
For many areas in Australia, the lack of adequate rainfall in 
2006 added to long-term dry conditions, with large regions 
having experienced little recovery from the droughts of 
2002-2003 and 1997-1998, the WMO reports. 
Australia was unusually warm in November 2006. (Map by Jesse 
Allen courtesy NASA) 
Dry conditions have now persisted for five to 10 years in some 
areas of Australia and in southwest Western Australia for 
around 30 years. 
In view of these data, the Australian Conservation Foundation, 
ACF, is calling for much greater action on climate change from 
the Australian government in 2007. 
Both of these new reports provide more compelling evidence 
that climate change is real and happening now, with Australia 
already suffering some of the worst impacts, said ACF Climate 
Change Campaigner Phil Freeman. 
“Unless we cut our greenhouse emissions, droughts will become 
more severe and frequent in parts of Australia,” said Freeman. 
“The current drought is projected to wipe off billions from 
the value of farm production alone.” 
The ACF says Australia should ratify the Kyoto Protocol, 
implement laws and targets to reduce our greenhouse pollution 
by 2020, and ensure that at least 25 percent of Australia’s 
energy is generated by renewable sources by 2020. 
The 2006 average annual temperature for the lower 48 United 
States is estimated as the third warmest on record, according 
to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. The 
year is noted for widespread drought and record wildfires, as 
well as heavy precipitation and flooding in some parts of the 
country. 
NOAA predicts the 2006-2007 winter will also be warmer than 
average. "The prediction for a warmer than normal winter 
season does not mean we won't have winter weather," said Mike 
Halpert, lead seasonal forecaster at the NOAA Climate 
Prediction Center. "What it does mean is that on average this 
will be a milder than average winter across much of the North, 
with fewer Arctic air outbreaks." 
Long-term drought continued in parts of the Greater Horn of 
Africa including parts of Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, 
Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and the United Republic of Tanzania. 
At least 11 million people were affected by food shortages; 
Somalia was hit by the worst drought in a decade. 
Flooding Rains Across Africa, South America 
But the Horn of Africa was also hit with severe flooding in 
2006, reported to be the region's worst in 50 years. The heavy 
rains followed a long period of drought and the dry ground was 
unable to soak up large amounts of rainfall. 
The hardest hit areas were in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. 
Somalia is undergoing its worst flooding in recent history - 
some places have received more than six times their average 
monthly rainfall and hundreds of thousands of people have been 
affected. 
This woman and child survived on UN food aid when they were 
displaced from their home by Kenya's Tana River, which 
overflowed its banks in November. (Photo courtesy WFP)
An estimated 723,000 people were affected by devastating 
floods in Kenya in November 2006. The Tana River, which flows 
into the Indian Ocean, broke its banks because of heavy rains 
at its source in the Mount Kenya region. 
Heavy rain also caused disastrous floods in Ethiopia in 
August, claiming more than 600 lives. 
Rare heavy rainfall in the Sahara Desert region of Tindouf 
produced severe flooding in February damaging 70 percent of 
food stocks and displacing 60,000 people. 
In Bilma, Niger, the highest rainfall since 1923 affected 
nearly 50,000 people throughout August. In the same month, the 
most extensive rainfall in 50 years brought significant 
agricultural losses to the region of Zinder, Niger. 
Heavy rainfall in Bolivia and Equador in the first months of 
the year caused severe floods and landslides with tens of 
thousands of people affected. Torrential rainfall in Suriname 
during early May produced the country’s worst disaster in 
recent times. 
After 500 mm of torrential rainfall during a five-day period 
in February, a large-scale landslide occurred in Leyte Island, 
the Philippines with more than 1,000 casualties. 
Only months after the destructive summer flooding in eastern 
Europe in 2005, heavy rainfall and snowmelt produced extensive 
flooding along the River Danube in April and the river reached 
its highest level in more than a century. 
Areas of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Serbia were the 
hardest hit with hundreds of thousands of hectares inundated 
and tens of thousands of people affected. 
Vancouver, Canada experienced its wettest month ever in 
November with 351 mm, nearly twice the average monthly 
accumulation. 
Persistent and heavy rainfall during May brought historic 
flooding to the U.S. region of New England described as the 
worst in 70 years in some areas. 
Across the U.S. mid-Atlantic and northeast, exceptionally 
heavy rainfall occurred in June. Numerous daily and monthly 
records were set and the rainfall caused widespread flooding 
which forced the evacuation of some 200,000 people. ` 
Deadly Cyclones, Typhoons 
Landed tropical cyclones caused more than 1,000 fatalities and 
economic losses of US$10 billion in China, which made 2006 the 
severest year in a decade. 
Typhoon Durian affected some 1.5 million people in the 
Philippines in November and December 2006, claiming more than 
500 lives with hundreds still missing. 
During the mild 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, nine named 
tropical storms developed, one fewer than the average. Only 
two of those were major hurricanes, registering Category Three 
or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. 
In the eastern North Pacific 19 named storms developed, which 
is well above the average of 16; eleven reached hurricane 
strength of which six attained major status. 
Twelve tropical cyclones developed in the Australian Basin, 
two more than the long-term average. Tropical cyclone Larry 
was the most intense at landfall in Queensland since 1918, 
destroying 80 to 90 percent of the Australian banana crop. 
Moderate El Niño 
In August, conditions in the central and western equatorial 
Pacific started resembling typical early stages of an El Niño 
event. By the end of the year, the typical El Niño warmer than 
average sea-surface temperatures were established across the 
tropical Pacific basin. 
The El Niño event is expected by global consensus to continue 
at least into the first quarter of 2007.