December 24 to January 25 is the second largest monthly temperature drop in the surface temperature record of 7.13°F in one month.
As many readers know, we are here to follow the US Climate Reference Network (USCRN) and update on the right side along with UAH Global Satellite Records. I chose these metrics because I and others have shown that the rest of the surface temperature record is nothing more than a warm biased and unreliable statistically bad junk data. Frustrated as you want, but that's the truth, Jack.
This fact is that you won't see headlines from mainstream climate publishers: The US Climate Reference Network (USCRN) just recorded the second largest month of temperature drop across the entire time series from November to December 2009. That's right – despite the endless rhetoric of the “hottest ever” proposition, the original, state-of-the-art USCRN network told a different story in February 2025.
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Let's set the stage. USCRN, operating since 2005, is NOAA's gold standard for tracking continuous temperature trends across 114 sites with urban heat islands and other human influences, and it's as clean as the dataset you find. No adjustment, no homogenization – just original, reliable numbers. According to the latest NCEI report, the continuous U.S. rate in January 2025 was 29.2°F, which is already below the long-term average and 0.9°F in January on the coldest 20-year record in USCRN. Not exactly the “agile” narrative we sell.
Fast forward to February 2025, and preliminary data (as of February 20) show jaw-dropping slides. While the figures are still flowing throughout the month, the monthly decline from 29.2°F in January is shaping a person, just the nose of the late 2009. At that time, the temperature collapsed in nearly 8°F between November and December, a seasonal anomaly that caused the eyebrows but was not suitable for warming scripts, so it quietly faded away from the spotlight. . This time, early indications indicate that the plunge is close to 7°F or more, a rare event in a dataset designed for stability and accuracy.
What driving is it? The outlook for the February NOAA hints at the cold sting in the north, and LaNiña's influence may bend its muscles at startup. But let's not deceive ourselves – it's too early to attribute it to any reason without digging deeper. The power of USCRN is its consistency, not its ability to explain all the swings. What Do Tell us that even in the built network, large fluctuations still occur to filter out noise and bias.
Tips for inevitable rotation: “It's just weather, not climate!” Fair – Moon-to-month changes won't rewrite long-term trends. But when the trendsetters grab the pearls on every heat wave, the cherry picky high up refuels the crisis machine, the record drop should reach equal call time. The complete history of USCRN has no obvious warming signal since its inception, hovering around the plane lines while the global dataset is “unprecedented”. Maybe it's time to ask why America has the best instrument on Earth to keep the script.
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From a perspective, the decline from November to December 2009 was a beast, with almost 8°F (7.58°F) in a month, with a dwarf seasonal transfer difference. February 2025 may not steal the crown, but it dropped the second at 7.13°F in the 20-year record (left image), which doesn't change. This reminds people that there are still tricks in nature and USCRN is grabbing them in real time.
So while NOAA climate building is ready for the next “climatic state” preaching, let’s introduce the data of the conversation. USCRN's February surprise is not a debunking of anything, it's just a fact. As they say the facts It's a stubborn thing. Stay tuned for the final numbers, but for now, it's a cold splash of reality worth chewing on.
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