COLUMBIA, S.C. — 2022 brought us a wide variety of weather in the Midlands. Looking back at the previous year we saw temperatures in the triple digits but also lows in the teens. We had wet and dry stretches just like any other year.
When taking the average weather we saw, Both Columbia and the state of South Carolina saw their 15th hottest year on record. That is according to NOAA and NWS data from the last year.
Nothing record breaking by an means but, on a global scale new data puts the year of 2022 as the 5th hottest ever to occur. In a report by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting they say that we could see some variance in this ranking when other agencies like NOAA release their data later this week.
This concerning trend is highlighted by the fact that now out of the past 8 years each and every one is now in the 8 hottest years to ever occur.
2022 while not the hottest, was still about 1.2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.
Regions like Europe saw their hottest summer ever recorded and the only thing keeping global averages down was the intense La Nina that caused lower than average conditions in the Eastern Pacific.
As we go into this year, things have been off to a very warm start.
Back in the US our temperatures continue to be above average with highs reaching 10 to 20 degrees above where they should be this time of the year.
Here in Columbia, we are actually off to the 5th warmest start to a calendar year with an average temperature similar to that of the very end of winter in the Midlands.
Things don’t look to be changing much either as the Climate Prediction Center is expecting overall warmer than normal conditions for the next two weeks.
