Global Warming Shifts Into High Gear

4 years ago Science

After a brief month-long respite, during which many reputable publications saw fit to mock global warming or enable climate change deniers, the impending crisis must have felt unloved.

http://inlinethumb33.webshots.com/40480/2586904810103329676S600x600Q85.jpgPhoto:
Image from Huffington Post

Like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, climate change is back with a vengeance. Unfortunately for us, the metaphorical bad weekend isn't forgetting everything learned in a six-week rehab and wrecking a car that costs more than most homes, but rather the most dramatic temperature increase over any three months, ever.

In the wake of our multi-week ice age, it may come as cold comfort to see the planet warming with such speed. What was actually going on?

Well, as it happens, January 2008 was the 31st warmest on record, but a far cry from January 2007, which was the warmest ever. A little perspective helps everything, except a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, it seems.

Now that the hysteria over out mini-ice age (Solar Activity Diminishes; Researchers Predict Another Ice Age) has diminished, it's important to re-examine what, exactly, is going on: the temperature is rising, rapidly.

The three-month average that would have us all hopping the next available flight to Venus is doubtless an outlier, just as the frigid temperatures of January were, but nobody reading this site will dispute that we're getting hot under the collar in the long run: in the meantime, the tomfoolery of the rest of the world would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

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Comments

Old Comments

Bob B says

Apr 18th, 2008 at 12am
What planet are you guys on? The Earth has been cooling since 1998: http://icecap.us/images/uploads/ipcc_ar4_and_trend.jpg

Bob B says

Apr 18th, 2008 at 12am
Here is a chart from Met in the UK: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/hadcrut_mar08.png you can see the decline since 1998

PATRICK says

Apr 17th, 2008 at 12am
"January 2007, which was the warmest ever." "Ever" is a very long time. You can actually report that through the founding of this country, the crusades, Jesus, the building of the pyramids, the dinosaurs that January 2007 was the warmest EVER? That is sure some climate record you've got there. Gimme a break! http://www.globalwarminginsanity.com

Mick says

Apr 17th, 2008 at 12am
You should remind your readers that "warmest ever" mean warmest in 150 years, a tiny blink of an eye in geologic time. And the warming crowd is always talking about taking trends out of temporal context. This warming is totally precedented and not alarming if you take the trend in the context of many thousands of years of great warmings and coolings.

Edward says

Apr 17th, 2008 at 12am
To call the people who are pointing out that we are overdue for an ice age (not mini, but a full blown 80,000 year ice age that we've had cyclically for the last few million years) hysterical is frankly hypocritical. Let's hope and pray you are right, that humans producing 5% of the global output of a gas that makes up 3% of the greenhouse effect is so significant that it's going to override the effects of the Sun and Earth's orbital patterns. Given that we are destroying our wealth trying to regulate the temperature of the planet, you'd better be right.