CLIMATE IN 2004

Abstract

Global temperature in 2004 was 0.54 °C above the long-term (1880–2003 ) average , making 2004 the fourth warmest year on record. The warmest year on record was 1998, followed by 2002 and 2003, both having the same anomaly. Middle tropospheric temperature was above average, while the lower stratospheric temperature was below average, which is consistent with the depletion of ozone in the lower stratosphere. Notable temperature extremes in 2004 included a severe heat wave that affected much of eastern Australia from February until the end of March. Maximum temperatures reached 45 °C. In Spain during June and July, 73-year records were broken when the maximum temperature reached between 39–42 °C. In Japan, a heat wave during mid-July produced the record temperature of 39 °C in Tokyo. Early in the year, extreme cold temperatures as low as 0–5 °C in South Asia contributed to as many as 600 deaths. Heavy monsoon rainfall brought flooding to areas of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal, heavy showers caused flooding in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and severe floods and landslides affected more than 1.5 million people in northeast China. In each of these areas, floods claimed more than a thousand lives. Regional drier than average conditions were widespread across the western U.S., where multi-year drought continued to ravage the region. The March-May rainy season was shorter and drier than normal across part of the Greater Horn of Africa, resulting in a continuation of multi-season drought in this region. Shorter droughts were experienced in parts of Australia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.