Recent reports from U.S. climate scientists show that last month was the planet’s sixth warmest October ever recorded, but the third coolest October when looking at U.S. temperatures alone. 
And a separate data check by the same scientists, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center, along with other experts, revealed no meaningful statistical trends supporting recent claims of “global cooling.”
The October monthly snapshot of global climate trends from the agency reveal the variability of the climate system, and the reality of short-term cooling and warming trends in different regions of the planet.
While the snapshots cover too short a time-frame to be useful in drawing conclusions about climate trends over decades, they do reveal a dynamic climate system. They also show evidence of the effects of regional phenomena, such as the periodic warming of the tropical Pacific known as El Nino.
One of the October reports showed that the average combined land and ocean surface temperature was 58.13 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.03 degrees above the 20th century average.
For the land surface temperature average alone, it was also the sixth warmest October, at 50.18 — 1.48 degrees above the 2oth century average. For ocean surface temperature alone, it was the fifth warmest October, at 61.5 degrees — 0.90 degrees above the 20th century average.
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We’ll choose a question each week for UC Irvine climate scientists to answer.
