Could this be the hottest year on record?

[adam antichrist]

Could this be the hottest year on record?
By Melissa Fyfe
Environment Reporter
November 14, 2005

THIS year may not have seemed like a scorcher, but it is firming as the hottest year since records began.

The past decade had unusually hot years, but 2005 is the one climatologists are watching closely. The record year, 1998, had the "El Nino of the century", significantly raising temperatures. This year could exceed that benchmark without an El Nino, a warming of the Pacific Ocean that affects Australia's climate.

In a statement to be released today, the Bureau of Meteorology says the first 10 months of 2005 were the warmest equivalent period since monthly records began in 1950, and it probably would be the hottest year since annual records began in 1910. Climate scientists are picking up a similar trend globally.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...816810804.html

The image is not available online, but in the paper there was a graph included with this story that showed the trendline between 1950 and today. Not only are average annual temperatures increasing, but cold years are warmer and hot years are hotter. They estimate a change in annual average temperatures of at least one degree, a very large amount for a very small timeframe.

Turn off your computers everybody!!!

[Roxy]

Do you think that's why the east coast of the USA had so many hurricanes this year?

[adam antichrist]

They have had more hurricanes than have ever been recorded, southern australia has the hottest year ever recorded, coincidence perhaps?

Many many scientists believe we are seeing the results of our mistreatment of the planet, and I think this is a reasonable conclusion. We'll know for sure over the next ten years, if the trend continues.

[kriz]

It was suspisously warm in Norway when I was there last month. I've never experienced those kind of temperatures in November. It's scary.

[DianeVegan]

For anyone interested in a little more in-depth reading, the book "High Tide" by Mark Lynas takes you to the areas where global warming and human intervention has already seriously altered the landscape. He takes you to islands in the Pacific that are flooding due to rising ocean water, towns in Alaska which are sinking, red cloud storms in China, the wet season in Britain and hurricanes in the USA.

Lynas is a journalist who has done much writing on the climate and actually visited all the places he writes about. Very interesting reading.

[DianeVegan]

I think the islands mentioned in this article are the same visited in the above book.