Tuesday, April 17, 2007

A warmer California


According to NASA and scientists at Cal State LA The average temperature in California rose nearly two degrees over the last 50 years based on observations from 331 weather stations between 1950 and 2000. Urban areas experienced the fastest warming.
The scientists concluded that small increases measured in many rural areas may reflect the contribution of global warming due to rising greenhouse gas concentrations. Larger changes in and around urban areas are mostly due to growing population and the conversion of natural areas to urban ones.
The greatest warming occurred in southern California’s urbanized areas, including Los Angeles and rapidly growing Palm Springs. Urban areas raise average temperatures mostly by preventing an area from cooling off at night.

The graph shows the temperature in downtown Los Angeles from 1878 through 2005. The drop in temperatures observed at the end of the 20th century are due to the relocation of the station away from the more built-up part of the city to a more natural setting on the campus of the University of Southern California.

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