Temperature anomalies occur when temperatures are registered significantly above or below the mean, according to the University.
These fluctuations might have more influence on human life than the increase of Earth’s average temperature as they can disrupt water supplies, agricultural productivity and other factors that affect human health.
“Average temperatures don’t tell us everything we need to know about climate change,” Robeson said in the release. “Arguably, these cold extremes and warm extremes are the most important factors for human society.”
The study, titled “Trends in hemispheric warm and cold anomalies,” will be published in the Geophysical Research Letters. The study is available online.
Temperature anomalies in the fifth and 95th percentiles increased more than Earth’s overall temperature, according to the University.
This includes temperatures that are in both the warmest and coldest 5 percent of global temperatures.
Throughout the 130-year record the researchers examined, cold anomalies increased more than warm anomalies. This resulted in a narrowing of Earth’s temperature range.
This pattern reversed in the past 30 years, with warm temperature anomalies becoming more common.
“Earth’s temperature was becoming more homogenous with time, but now it’s not,” Robeson said in ?the release.
The study evaluated separate results for both the northern and southern hemispheres.
There is significantly less land mass in the Southern Hemisphere to influence and complicate weather patterns and, as a result, weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere can be much more difficult to trace.
The research also considered the disruption in global warming observed during the 16-year period beginning in 1998 through the extreme cooling occurring in the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere, according to the University.
The researchers noted that a 16-year period is not enough time to truly observe a pattern, especially in global weather systems.
“There really hasn’t been a pause in global warming,” Robeson said in the release. “There’s been a pause in Northern Hemisphere ?winter warming.”
While it might seem counter intuitive for global warming to lead to colder winters, the researchers said the change in the arctic landscape as a result of the warming causes shifts in the jet stream, which can cause extended periods of cold weather in mid-northern latitudes, according to the University.
The rate of planetary warming during the past 16 years has slowed but has not stopped.
The World Meteorological Association has said 2014 is on-track to be the warmest year in recorded history.
On a smaller scale, temperatures in the U.S. have been widely varied. Many areas in the East have been unusually warm, while much of the west has experienced an increase in temperatures and extreme drought.
