<< Hi Christine!
Where's Al?
Facts say 1980 was much hotter:
abcnews.com;
Hi Duncan!
Wrong, wrong, wrong again!! (But I still like you.) If you look at the big picture, Duncan, the globe is warming up:
8th Straight Month of Record Global Heat
AP-September 11, 1998
Washington--August was the eighth month in a row to set a new average high temperature worldwide, an event that seems stuck like an old phonograph record with a scratch.
The average global temperature for August was 61.4 degrees Fahrenheit, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday.
That broke the previous record of 61.1 degrees set in 1997 and is 1.3 degrees above the long-term average of 60.1 degrees for August.
August "contained an unprecedented string of record-breaking temperatures," the agency said. "Each month this year has set new all-time record global near-surface temperatures."
In the United States, January through August has been the fifth wettest and fourth warmest such period on record. For the year to date, the nation has had an average of 22.77 inches of precipitation. The normal for the period is 20.05 inches. The wettest January through August was in 1979, with 23.34 inches of precipitation.
For the year to date, the average global temperature of 58.5 degrees Fahrenheit was also 1.3 degrees above the long-term average of 57.2.
That average is based on data from 1880 to 1997, according to the National Climatic Data Center, the NOAA's record-keeping division.
During August, surface warmth was evident over much of the globe, with cool areas in Europe, Alaska, Siberia, Bangladesh, the South Atlantic and the Central Pacific, the agency said.
In the Central Pacific, sea surface temperatures were below normal, an event commonly referred to as La Nina, although ocean waters off the northwest coast of South America remained warm.
The U.S. outlook for fall and winter includes periods with increased chances of below normal rain or snowfall in the Southwest, Central Plains and Southeast, with above normal precipitation in the Northwest. |
