A report released today by the non-profit group Environment California says that 2007 was the 10th warmest year on record in the United States and that the mountain West, in particular, experienced above-average temperatures.
In Reno, Nevada - on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada - the average 2007 temperature of 55.3 degrees was four degrees higher than the 30-year average temperature (1971 to 2000), according to the report.
Nightime lows are rising, too. In Reno, the average minimum temperature last year was 40.7 degrees - more than five degrees higher than the 1971 to 2000 average, the report said.
Warmer nights are a particular concern in mountain regions, where rising temperatures mean more rain and less snow and trigger earlier melting of snow in general. "Worldwide minimum temperatures - the lowest temperatures recorded on a given day, usually at night - are increasing at nearly twice the pace of maximum temperatures," the report said.
The report, titled Feeling the Heat: Global Warming and Rising Temperatures in the United States, is available online at: https://www.environmentcalifornia.org/uploads/ST/7X/ST7XwRkBhoempRzDrlMM6w/feeling_the_heat_ca.pdf
A faster-downloading summary can be found at: https://www.environmentcalifornia.org/reports/global-warming/global-warming-reports2/feeling-the-heat-global-warming-and-rising-temperatures-in-the-united-states#ffcmCvswbi3BE6Y0FInb6g
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