The big challenge for NOAA this month will be to justify calling November "near normal."
There has been absolutely nothing "near normal" about it so far. If the Arctic is warming, it's only because all of the cold has entered the U.S.
This prediction for the whole month was fitting for the first week... and then the temperatures plummeted. In our "warmer than average" southeastern Michigan, the first week was 5-6°F above "normal." The weather for the next two weeks was so cold that the cumulative... including that very warm first week... was several degrees below normal. And the last week will continue that. Actually, the "average" daily temperatures were below the "normal low" temperatures. It has been more like December-January than November.
But don't worry, Dr. Hansen at NASA will run a few algorithms through the computer and history will be restated and "normal" will be lowered... and we will have had a much more pleasant than normal November.
I'll publish the final November data for this location in a week, but the story won't be changing.
Where the hell is global warming when you really need it? I guess we'll just have to set the thermostat back to 62° at night to keep the heating bills lower... until winter comes. Then we might have to keep it there day and night.
It's not just here in Michigan. My nonagenarian mother in Orlando was a bit peeved about the weather there, too. The normal high in mid-November is 79° and the low is 59°. This is what they had last week.
Global warming didn't go there either.Yup, the heat must have bypassed the "lower 48" and gone straight to the Arctic...