Thursday, July 3, 2008

Cooler global forecast, but fears of warming persist

Although we are bombarded almost daily with stories of the melting North Pole, other details oddly do not get reported.

"Global temperature for 2008 is expected to be 0.37 °C above the long-term (1961-1990) average of 14.0 °C, the coolest year since 2000, when the value was 0.24 °C..."
And then, the excuses:

"These cyclical influences can mask underlying warming trends with Prof. Phil Jones, Director of the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, saying: 'The fact that 2008 is forecast to be cooler than any of the last seven years (and that 2007 did not break the record warmth set on 1998) does not mean that global warming has gone away. What matters is the underlying rate of warming - the period 2001-2007 with an average of 0.44 °C above the 1961-90 average was 0.21 °C warmer than corresponding values for the period 1991-2000.'"

Sure. Makes perfect sense. The warming is happening, but it is masked. Global warming's there, but you won't see it because of the global cooling. Trust us.

1 comment:

Dan Pangburn said...

Recent average global temperatures placed in context with global climate history result in better understanding (that temperatures since the industrial revolution are consistent with temperatures prior to the industrial revolution). This is done at different time scales with four graphs that were constructed from NOAA and other government provided data at http://www.middlebury.net/op-ed/pangburn.html. All data source internet sites are given.