I understand the temptation to look at data from January and February and to start writing off concerns about global warming. But a month-and-a-half of cold weather is not a study of climate.
The Chicago Sun-Times says:
This winter has been especially bad. It's not just your imagination.
According to an array of weather statistics compiled by Illinois state
climatologist Jim Angel, it's the third-worst winter in a decade.
The (Canadian) National Post reports:
The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many
American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January
and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in
January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."
The story points out:
China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures
in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some
middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity
because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to
repair them.
There have been so many snow and ice storms in
Ontario and Quebec in the past two months that the real estate market
has felt the pinch as home buyers have stayed home rather than
venturing out looking for new houses.
The story also states that in the summer of 2007 there was a lot of concern over the
melting of Arctic Sea Ice. This winter, the ice is actually thicker
than it was last winter.
Iran has experienced an unusually cold winter this year.
The same is true in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
But pit that against a January report from the National Climate Data Center that summarizes what happened in 2007. Here are some highlights:
- The year 2007 the 10th warmest year for the contiguous U.S., since
national records began in 1895.
- 2007 was
marked by exceptional drought in the U.S. Southeast and the West, which
helped fuel another extremely active wildfire season.
- The year also
brought outbreaks of cold air, and killer heat waves and floods.
- The global surface temperature for 2007 was the fifth
warmest since records began in 1880.
- NCDC originally estimated in
mid-December that 2007 would end as the eighth warmest on record, but
below-average temperatures in areas of the country last month lowered
the annual ranking.
- For Alaska, 2007 was the 15th warmest year since
statewide records began in 1918.
- Six of the 10 warmest years on record for the contiguous U.S. have
occurred since 1998, part of a three decade period in which mean
temperatures for the contiguous U.S. have risen at a rate near 0.6°F
per decade.
- A severe heat wave affected large parts of the central and
southeastern U.S. in August, setting more than 2,500 new daily record
highs.
- For 2007, the global land and ocean surface temperature was the
fifth warmest on record. Separately, the global land surface
temperature was warmest on record while the global ocean temperature
was 9th warmest since records began in 1880. Some of the largest and
most widespread warm anomalies occurred from eastern Europe to central
Asia.
- Including 2007, seven of the eight warmest years on record have
occurred since 2001 and the 10 warmest years have all occurred since
1995.
Here is some additional background.
Worries don't end for the ideologue. Evidence that goes contrary...
