Yesterday NOAA reported that the global mean temperature for April ranked as the 3rd warmest in recorded history. This is in the trend for the past 11 years. March was the fifth warmest on record. Dec. to Feb. was the warmest on record. 2006 was the warmest year on record. 2005 tied for the warmest year on record. 10 of the 11 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995.
This can hardly be termed variability. Yet some people pointed to the
severe cold blast the first week of April as proof that there is no climate
change. That is simply an uneducated opinion.
The experts tell us that the warming of the planet will push weather to
extremes in all directions - droughts, floods, heat waves, cold spells,
stronger hurricanes and blizzards.
The skeptics also point out that 2006 was a normal hurricane season,
but they don't mention that the typhoon season in the western Pacific
Ocean was much worse than normal with 6 extremely strong storms
hitting mainland China in a season comparable to the 2005 hurricane
season in the Atlantic.
Since there is little hope of reducing CO2 emissions for several years,
this trend is only going to continue.
NOAA Report:
Despite Record Cold Start, April Temperature Near Average for U.S., Global
April Surface Temperature Third Warmest on Record,5/16/07
http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2007/may07/noaa07-029.html
Original: April Was Third Warmest Ever