Given this summer's unusually cool weather---very much in evidence in the Chicago area this weekend---many have been asking "Where's this summer's warm/hot weather?" I thought you might find this 7-day animation of global temperatures produced each day by NOAA's Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC) of interest. When you stand back and look at the big picture, you can see the planet's pools of warmer than normal surface weather outnumber the cool pools. That probably will come as a surprise to many across the Midwest--especially with this weekend's cooler than normal temperatures. The presence of cool air over a good chunk of the nation's mid-section and the heat centered over the Western U.S. is very evident. The green and yellow areas depicted on this animation are regions of above normal surface temperatures while the blue areas show where cooler than normal weather has been occurring.
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/map/images/fnl/sfctmpmer_01a.fnl.anim.html
Hope you're having a good weekend!
Tom Skilling
