The National Climatic Data Center report for this winter came out today and well, U.S. winter temperatures were average this year. Temperatures this winter in San Francisco though have been a bit warm to say the least. But local variations don't mean much in the entire scheme of climate change.
But...
Worldwide this winter's temperature was the HIGHEST EVER recorded since recording began in 1880.
There is even a caveat to the US average as the graphic here might suggest if you look closely. More under the fold...
San Francisco hadrecord low temperatures in January only to have record warm temperatures this month. That graphic above is from a friend in Mass. This friend was checking the weather today.. it is abnormally warm for winter... near 70, and at the same time there was a winter storm watch for snow and cold for the next day.
As the National Climatic Data Center report above states, even though the temperatures were average for the U.S.:
The December 2006-February 2007 winter season temperature was marked by periods of unusually warm and cold conditions in the U.S
Climate change models predict local variations and more extreme fluctuations and a rising average global temperature. Of course the above SF and MA weather fluctuations prove nothing, I only point them out as illustrations of the report's findings. [added caveat based on comment below]
Oh... and did I say.. that this winter was the hottest EVER in the world?
We've got both variation and record warmth in this report.
I wonder how many years of increasingly record hot years and conclusive scientific evidence do we need before global warming naysayers finally start sweating and we actually start doing something... and preparing?
The science (hey, I'm a biologist) convinced me in the 90's that the climate was getting warmer.
The science convinced me by late last decade that humans might be having a huge part in this, only to be fully convinced by early this decade.
Science has done it's part. Global climate change and warming is a fact, and it is a fact that human activity has had a huge impact on that change.
Now comes the hard part, the politics and policies.