Via Common Dreams/Reuters, 2006 Set to be 6th Warmest Worldwide: UK Report:
This year is set to be the sixth warmest worldwide since records began, stoked by global warming linked to human activities, the British Meteorological Office and the University of East Anglia said on Thursday.
As England basks in unseasonably warm December weather two weeks before the end of the year, the Met Office said data from January to November made 2006 the warmest on record for central England.
“Worldwide, the provisional figures for 2006 using data from January to November, place the year as the sixth warmest year” since records began in the 1850s, the report said.
The previous warmest years were 1998 and 2005, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO was due to release its own 2006 figures later on Thursday.
“The top 10 warmest years have all occurred in the last 12 years,” it said, adding that 2006 could have been warmer but for La Nina, a cooling of parts of the Pacific Ocean.
Technorati Tags: Antarctica, Arctic, Climate Change, Global Warming
Here in Indiana we’re seeing 60s in December.
Anybody paying attention should know that isn’t quite right.
agreed. not only are we seeing 60s in december, this is the 4th year in a row of such mild winter temperatures. as a child and teenager i remember winters in which december – february was dominated by lows of 15 – 20 degrees (or less) and highs of 35 or less. the normal precipitation was snow. these past few days the normal temperatures are MUCH higher and the new normal precipitation is rain.
i’m also seeing, for the third winter in a row, many plants that historically died back in the winter staying green. trees budding in dead winter, bulbs pushing up. insects everywhere. there is no doubt that in missouri winter has completely changed.
i wonder, do people consider the myriad effects that these changes have on the life cycles of plants, insects, birds, animals? my guess is that while many sense that things have changed they generally do not THINK about the effects and what those effects mean for ecological systems.