Temperatures rise in Tennessee in 2005
Maximum temperatures were 1.4 to 2.8 degrees above normal this year in Bristol, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville, and minimum temperatures were 0.5 to 2.8 degrees higher than their historical baseline, according to the Washington-based Clear the Air coalition.
The group compared major city airport readings for January through November this year against a historical average for the same 11-month period from 1961-1990 obtained from the National Climatic Data Center.
The results suggest maximum temperatures at Tennessee cities were as much as 3.8 percent hotter than normal and low temperatures were up to 5.2 percent warmer than normal.
“Global warming is not a distant, far-off problem,” Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said in a statement. “It is here, now.”
The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization said Thursday that global temperatures this year have been almost 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than average and may make 2005 one of the hottest years since record-keeping began in 1861.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the United States also may finish the year at 1 degree above its 52.8 degree average, making it one of the 20 warmest years on record.
In Tennessee, Bristol’s average maximum temperature for the first 11 months this year was 70.2, up 1.9 degrees; Chattanooga was 73.8, up 1.8; Knoxville was 72, up 1.4; Memphis was 76.2, up 2.8, and Nashville was 72.9, up 1.4.
And temperatures weren’t cooling off as much at night as in the past. Bristol’s average minimum temperature was 46.6, up 1.3 degrees; Chattanooga was 52.6, up 2.7; Knoxville was 51.1, up 1.6; Memphis was 56.9, up 2.8, and Nashville was 52.3, up 2.4.
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On the Net:
http://www.cleartheair.org/