In 2016, Philly a bellwether for worldwide warming
The Philadelphia region evidently did a bit more than its share to help make 2016 the warmest year in the official government database.
The Philadelphia region evidently did a bit more than its share to help make 2016 the warmest year in the official government database.
The official average temperature for 2016 at Philadelphia International Airport came in at 58.4, the second-warmest on record, and about 3.5 degrees above the 20th-century average.
That was uncannily close to the government's estimated global average temperature of 58.69, but the local warming was a shade more impressive. The global figure was just 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, barely nosing out the erstwhile No. 1 - 2015 - by 0.07 degrees. The margin of error was 0.27 degrees.
Every month but May finished with above-normal temperatures in Philadelphia, according to the National Weather Service - even January, when a blizzard shut down the region with up to 30 inches of snow. The 46 days of 90-plus temperatures were about double the average.
Overall, local warming has tracked fairly well with the rest of the world's.
This was the third consecutive year of record high temperatures in the National Center for Environmental Information's database, which goes back to 1880. Records also were set in 2005 and 2010.
In Philadelphia, seven of the 10 warmest years in records dating to 1874 have occurred in the 21st century.
In the short term, the warming trend continues. No serious cold is in the forecast for the rest of January, which is likely to become the eighth consecutive month with above-normal temperatures.
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