Answer Man: Earth just broke climate heat record in February, what about Asheville?
ASHEVILLE - This installment of Answer Man looks into the warming earth's recent record-breaking heat and how local temperatures compare to those global averages.
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Question: Last month was apparently the warmest February on record for the earth. Is the Asheville area experiencing similar temperatures?
Answer: That's correct about February being the hottest ever for the earth, but the record breaking goes further than that, according to climate scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
"Last month continued the world’s record-warm streak, with February 2024 ranking as the planet’s warmest February on record — the ninth month in a row of record-warm months," according to a March 14 news release from NOAA.
"What’s more, February 2024 wrapped up both hemispheres’ warmest December-through-February period on record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information," NOAA said.
The February global land and ocean surface temperature was 2.52 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average of 53.8 degrees F (12.1 degrees C), ranking as the warmest February in NOAA’s 175-year global climate record. Those changes are being driven largely by human activity, according to NOAA scientists.
It's important to note the temperatures cited are based on global averages. That means that every place on earth will not experience the same sorts of highs. For example, Europe, North America and South America had their warmest February on record, while Africa had its second warmest.
Zeroing in on Asheville, the hottest February was actually 2018 with an average of 50.1 degrees F. The second hottest February was in 2023 at 49.9 degrees and then 2017 at 48.6 degrees.
This year was actually tied with 1957 in 10th place at 46.7 degrees.
That's according to a downtown site, which is not the main federal weather station but has older records back to 1903. The official site, Asheville Regional Airport, only goes back to 1964, said Scott Stephens, a meteorologist with NOAA's Asheville-based National Centers for Environmental Information.
"Normally, I like to look at the two sites individually, rather than thread them together, since they are separated by 10 miles and have some differences," Stephens said. But the longer continuous period of record is downtown."
Here's a list of the records for the last nine months:
February: 50.1 degrees in 2018
January: 51.6 degrees in 1950
December: 52.6 degrees in 2015
November: 56.6 degrees in 1985
October: 65.1 degrees in 1919
September: 74.1 degrees in 2018
August: 78 degrees in 2007
Humans are driving the earth's warming by increasing the abundance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere amplifying the planet's natural greenhouse effect, according to NOAA scientists. While some still express skepticism about global warming − including Western North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, who has said there is "a lot of hysteria being built around climate change" − virtually all climate scientists agree the amount of heat-trapping gases produced by humans is already causing changes, such as extreme weather events.
According to NOAA, since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 377 weather and climate disasters, each reaching $1 billion in damages and costs for a total of more than $2.6 trillion.
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Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man: Earth broke global climate heat record; in Asheville?
