State of The Climate - December 2011

The State of The Climate report for December was just released and it also includes a partial summary for 2011. 
Here are a few highlights for December:

• The average contiguous U.S. temperature for December was 35.0 degrees F, or 1.7 degrees F above the 1901-2000 long-term average.
• A total of 15 states had December temperatures ranking among their ten warmest.
• Seven states had December precipitation totals among their ten driest.
• According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of January 3^rd 2012, about 3.3 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing the worst category of drought, called D4 or exceptional drought, a decrease from the nearly six percent at the beginning of the month.

And here are a few highlights for 2011:

• During 2011, the contiguous U.S. was warmer than average, with a temperature anomaly of 1.0 degree F, ranking in the top third of the historical distribution.
• The South and Northeast had annual temperatures which were much-above average, having their 8^th warmest and 9^th warmest years on record, respectively. Sixteen states had annual temperatures among their ten warmest.
• Wetter-than-average conditions were present for the Northeast (wettest year on record) and the Ohio Valley [(Central Climate Region) 2^nd wettest year). Seven states across the two regions — Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — had their wettest year on record.

You can read the entire report here. We'll have the additional summary for 2011 when it's released on January 19th. 

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