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SALT LAKE CITY -- Both flooding and fires may be the result of global climate trends, based on findings from this year's NOAA "State of the Climate" report.
Last year was the hottest on record, according to the the report.
Hot years tend to generate more wet and dry extremes than cold years.
–- Jeff Masters
For almost 30 years, global temperatures have not only been above the long-term average of 57 degrees, but edged upward each year. 2010 was no different, with a global temperature of 58.12.
The report collects various forms of data, including the amount of ice at the poles and in glaciers, amount of salt in various oceanic locations, as well as direct temperature readings on land, sea and air. From this, scientists can calculate much information, such as local and global temperature averages.
2010 saw some exceptional weather globally, ranging from extensive flooding in Australia, to a long heat wave in Russia. Moscow had a a peak temperature of 100.8 degrees, an all-time record.
While no particular weather occurrence can be attributed specifically to a hot or cold year, the probability of these kinds of events goes up as the thermometer rises.
"Hot years tend to generate more wet and dry extremes than cold years," Jeff Masters, who co-founded the popular site Weather Underground, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "This occurs [because] there is more energy available to fuel the evaporation that drives heavy rains and snows, and to make droughts hotter and drier in places storms are avoiding," he said.
You're dealing with bigger patterns than just temperature.
–- Kevin Eubank
Whether or not greenhouse gasses are contributing to the warming is still a matter of some controversy, but regardless, the total amount of greenhouse gasses continues to rise, according to the report. Gasses like carbon dioxide and methane increased in the atmosphere by 2.60 parts per million, the largest yearly increase in decades.
Temperature is not the end of the story though - naturally occurring cyclical changes in the world's climate complicate matters, especially at a regional level.
"You're dealing with bigger patterns than just temperature," said KSL meteorologist Kevin Eubank. He emphasized that there are many things that affect how weather has played out, specifically in Utah, in the last 18 months. For instance: the cooling of the Pacific Ocean.
Many have heard of "El Nino," where the temperature of the Pacific Ocean around the equator rises. The corollary of this is "La Nina," which has been happening for the last year, causing equatorial waters cool down, significantly affecting the weather in North America and the Pacific. It even reduced the number of cyclones this year.
"Since cyclones get energy from ocean heat, that cooler water helped give the Eastern Pacific hurricane basin an extremely quiet season," according to the report.
All this could be the reason why northern Utah has seen the wettest spring ever recorded, causing much of the state to stand on edge in anticipation of flooding.
In addition, the snow pack in regional ranges is still very high, leading to bear sightings farther down the mountain than seen before, as well as more positive benefits like an extended ski season.
But Eubank said that we often see these cycles of wet and dry in Utah.
"We kind of find ourselves in these cycles - We hit a real wet and real cool early 80s. we did it again in the early 90s. We did it again in the early 2000s," he said.
Though they are not entirely predictable over the long term, "Are we hitting these cycles? Yeah, we are."
