GHCN data late this month - interim results August warmer than July.

I have been posting monthly global temperatue anomaly averages for nearly fifteen years, based on land temperaturess from GHCN and ocean temperatures from ERSST. Both come via NOAA. In that time most temperatures are reported during the first few days. This was so last month, but this month there is a definite delay. The counts I use to determine publication were, on August 11:
ROW=3657 US=4705 Sea=3558
US means stations in USA; ROW means land stations elsewhere (both GHCN).

On September 11 we have:
ROW=2016 US=4692 Sea=3557

I normally require ROW>3200 for posting. Not only is the number of ROW stations low, but it has been increasing very slowly.

You might well wonder whether degraded NOAA capability following Trump intervention is responsible. But it is true that the big gaps are in China, Iran and Khazakstan, so current geopolitical tensions may play a role. But they haven't previously.

2000 ROW stations reporting is still respectable; it is far more than used to report in GHCN V3. So I'll post the results, but they may change if a large number of delayed data do turn up. 

The TempLS FEM anomaly (1961-90 base) was 0.968°C in August, up from 0.881°C in July, a rise of 0.081°C. That would make it the third warmest August in the record, just behind 2024 and 2023.

Here is the map of stations reporting:

Here is the corresponding stacked graph:


Here is the temperature map, using the FEM-based map of anomalies. Use the arrows to see different 2D projections.

As always, the 3D globe map gives better detail. There are more graphs and a station map in the ongoing report which is updated daily.

This post is part of a series that has now run since 2011. The TempLS mesh data is reported here, and the recent history of monthly readings is here. Unadjusted GHCN is normally used, but if you click the TempLS button there, it will show data with adjusted, and also with different integration methods. There is an interactive graph using 1981-2010 base period here which you can use to show different periods, or compare with other indices. There is a general guide to TempLS here.

The reporting cycle starts with the TempLS report, usually about the 8th of the month. Then when the GISS result comes out, usually about the 15th, I discuss it and compare with TempLS. The TempLS graph uses the FEM solution on a regular near equal area grid on the sphere ; the residuals are displayed more directly using a triangular grid in a WebGL plot here.

A list of earlier monthly reports of each series in date order is here:

1. NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis report
2. TempLS report
3. GISS report and comparison with TempLS