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SCIENCETuesday 12 January 2016
Wild December pushes US weather in 2015 to near records
Houses are surrounded by floodwater in Arnold, Mo. Federal weather officials said December’s was the second warmest world and a warming world
wild El Nino pushed 2015 in the U.S. to near-record levels for heat, moisture and downright extreme and third wettest in 121 is bringing more big heat
conditions, federal weather officials said. years of record-keeping and more big rain events
for the lower 48 states, the to the United States,” Arndt
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) National Oceanic and At- said during a NOAA press
mospheric Administration conference.
SETH BORENSTEIN pushed 2015 in the United ditions, U.S. government announced. For much of the spring and
AP Science Writer States to near-record lev- weather officials said this The 54.4 degree (12.4 Cel- summer, climate change
WASHINGTON (AP) — De- els for heat, moisture and weekend. sius) average last year was was the big factor push-
cember’s wild El Nino downright extreme con- The year that just ended second only to 2012. ing U.S. temperatures
“The combination of El above normal. But in No-
Nino plus climate change vember and December, El
clearly has brought the U.S. Nino took over and super-
some weirdly memorable, charged the global warm-
highly unusual, and quite ing effect while turning on
troubling weather,” said the heavy rains, said Vic-
climate scientist Michael tor Gensini, a meteorology
Oppenheimer of Princeton professor at DuPage Col-
University. “As for the influ- lege outside Chicago.
ence of climate change, El Nino is the natural warm-
it’s just the beginning.” ing of the central Pacific
These are just U.S. statistics. that changes weather
Globally, it’s almost certain worldwide. It occurs every
to be hottest on record two to seven years or so
with exact figures coming with one of its most notice-
out later this month, and able affects being heavy
the U.S. near-record is em- downpours in California.
blematic of that, said Deke Going into December, it
Arndt, NOAA’s climate was just the fifth warmest
monitoring chief. and ninth wettest year in
“We live in a warming the United States. Then a
record-setting December
Great white shark dies after 3 days in Japan aquarium pushed everything up a
few notches.
YURI KAGEYAMA cized keeping the shark A great white shark swims in a water tank specially for fero- At 38.6 degrees (3.6 Cel-
Associated Press in captivity as “cruel and cious sharks at the aquarium in Motobu, Okinawa, southwest- sius) — 6 degrees warmer
TOKYO (AP) — A great wrong.” ern Japan. The 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) shark died after barely than the 20th century av-
white shark has died after “The cause of death is three days in a rare case of captivity in the Japanese aquar- erage — December was
barely three days in a rare clear: captivity. The shark ium. nearly a full degree warm-
case of captivity in a Japa- never had to die like this,” er than the record set in
nese aquarium. said Jason Baker, PETA’s (Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium via AP) 1939. And the 3.93 inches
The 3.5 meter (11.5-foot) vice president of interna- of precipitation in Decem-
shark, which was acci- tional campaigns. and had appeared to be tank. Efforts to give it oxy- ber surpassed the old re-
dentally caught in a net Aquarium researcher Kei- doing well, swimming with gen in a separate special cord by more than a sixth
in southwestern Japan on ichi Sato said the aquarium several other sharks, but tank failed. It had refused of an inch.
Tuesday, died this week- abides by Japanese and suddenly weakened and to eat any food since be- This was the first time that a
end, according to Okina- international laws and be- sank to the bottom of the ing caught.q month was both the warm-
wa Churaumi Aquarium. lieves its efforts contribute est and wettest on record,
The cause of death was to education and science. said NOAA climate scien-
under investigation. “Many visitors had asked tist Jake Crouch.
Keeping a great white us to exhibit the great Last year, the U.S. lurched
shark in captivity is ex- white shark,” he said in a from one extreme to an-
tremely difficult as it needs telephone interview from other. Going into Decem-
to keep swimming con- Okinawa. ber, the U.S. was flirting with
stantly to get oxygen and The aquarium had an- a record low number of tor-
maintain its body tempera- nounced the rare success- nado deaths. Then a series
ture. ful exhibition of the species of nasty tornadoes killed 24
An official for People for earlier this week. people in four days, mak-
the Ethical Treatment of The captured shark, a ing it the second deadliest
Animals, or PETA, Asia, criti- male, was relatively small, December for tornadoes
on record.q
