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Trends in record‐breaking temperatures for the conterminous United States
Author(s) -
Rowe Clinton M.,
Derry Logan E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2012gl052775
Subject(s) - climate change , historical record , climatology , environmental science , temperature record , physical geography , geography , geology , history , oceanography , memoir , art history
In an unchanging climate, record‐breaking temperatures are expected to decrease in frequency over time, as established records become increasingly more difficult to surpass. This inherent trend in the number of record‐breaking events confounds the interpretation of actual trends in the presence of any underlying climate change. Here, a simple technique to remove the inherent trend is introduced so that any remaining trend can be examined separately for evidence of a climate change. As this technique does not use the standard definition of a broken record, our records * are differentiated by an asterisk. Results for the period 1961–2010 indicate that the number of record * low daily minimum temperatures has been significantly and steadily decreasing nearly everywhere across the United States while the number of record * high daily minimum temperatures has been predominantly increasing. Trends in record * low and record * high daily maximum temperatures are generally weaker and more spatially mixed in sign. These results are consistent with other studies examining changes expected in a warming climate.