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HOME >Climate System Monitoring > Seasonal Highlights on the Climate System

Seasonal Highlights on the Climate System

'Seasonal Highlights' has been issued in PDF format since spring 2007 as a seasonal bulletin focusing on the seasonal highlights of the monitoring results. For monthly information, please refer to 'Monthly Highlights on the Climate System.'


Highlights in Winter (December 2023 - February 2024)

- Oceanic indicators suggest that ongoing El Niño conditions in the equatorial Pacific have already peaked and are now gradually weakening (see El Niño Outlook updated on 11 March 2024).
- Seasonal mean temperatures were significantly above normal nationwide. The seasonal anomaly of the average temperature over Japan was +1.27°C (the second highest for the season since 1898).
- The seasonal anomaly of the global average surface temperature was +0.68°C (the warmest for the season since 1891).
- Seasonal mean temperatures were extremely high from Honshu to Kyushu region of Japan, from Southeast Asia to the southwestern Indian Ocean, in the central Arabian Peninsula, from southeastern Europe to the eastern South Atlantic, from northern to eastern Canada, from northern to eastern South America, from central to southern South America, and from central Polynesia to eastern Australia.
- Convective activity was enhanced over the equatorial Pacific and over the western Indian Ocean, and suppressed from the eastern Indian Ocean to Indonesia.
- In the 500-hPa height field, the polar vortex in the Northern Hemisphere split with positive anomalies over the northern polar region and negative anomalies over Europe and from Eastern Siberia to Alaska. Wave trains were dominant over the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes with positive anomalies over northeastern North America, northwestern Northern Africa and from Japan to the east. Zonally-elongated negative anomalies over the mid-latitude western Hemisphere.
- The subtropical jet stream shifted southward from its normal position over eastern Eurasia. The polar-front jet stream was clear from Eurasia to the north of Japan. The westerly jet stream shifted southward from its normal position over North America.


Full version (PDF)

The descriptions from Spring-2011 to Winter-2021 issue are based on the former climatological normal (1981-2010) unless otherwise stated.
In the descriptions until Winter-2011 issue, 1979-2004 average is used as climatological normal unless otherwise stated.
The descriptions until Autumn-2013 issue are based on the JRA-25/JCDAS datasets.
The descriptions from Winter-2014 to Winter-2023 issue are based on the JRA-55 reanalysis.

Figures and Tables

Notice: Products based on JRA-3Q were updated to those with improved quality in terms of tropical cyclone analysis. OLR-related products from January 1991 are based on NOAA CPC Blended OLR (CBO).

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