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With less than three months left this year, it's looking increasingly likely that 2012 will go down as the warmest year on record in the continental United States.
January-September was already the warmest first nine months, according to temperature data released Tuesday by the National Climatic Data Center.
Moreover, six of eight scenarios charted by the center have 2012 ending warmer than any other year in records that go back to 1895. The only scenarios where that would not happen are if the last quarter is among the 10 coldest on record.
Last month was the 23rd warmest September on record and, more significantly, marked "the 16th consecutive month with above-average temperatures for the Lower 48," the center said in its monthly State of the Climate Report.
January-September temperatures averaged 59.8 degrees Fahrenheit -- 3.8 degrees F above the 20th-century average.
This year has already seen the warmest March and July on record, and, except for September, every other month was in the top 20 warmest, weather.com noted.
Looking ahead, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center last month posted its three-month outlook, citing "enhanced chances for above normal temperatures from the Southwest through the Great Plains to the Northeast."
Weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen noted that only eight of the past 117 years have had an October-December cold enough to drag the U.S. average in 2012 below the "warmest year" record now shared by 2006 and 1998.
In September, Wiltgen calculated that through August "the odds of not surpassing the warmest year on record are about 13 percent."
Now, he tweeted on Tuesday, those odds are about 7 percent.
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Too many people! we need to cool the planet now! Do your part to save the world..OD tonight!
Haha!
WOW. Man-bear-pig! Where are you all getting these statistics? Jock, you may want to study up a little. Most scientists do NOT agree on the global warming issue. There are many scientists who agree that CO2 levels do not cause the temperature spikes. They say temperature spikes are what CAUSE CO2 levels to rise. Oh no! Therefore, yes, Al Gore would be wrong. He was using a faulty computer model to show the whole world. Can this happen? Could he be so careless? Well, he probably had good intentions, but we all make mistakes. I would like to point out one thing though, many of the elite liberals in politics have made connections with the leading "green" energy companies (Like Tesla), and given them billions in contributions. Why is this? Well look who owns them. Look who invests in them. Hmm. Gotta love the good ol' boys club. As much as you think your hero's are doing the right thing, they may just be looking for a quick buck.
Here is for all you MSNBC watchers-- I LOVED watching Chris Mathews pound his fists and cry like a baby after the wed. debate. Haha, great entertainment -priceless.
" Most scientists do NOT agree on the global warming issue."
Actually they do.
Yea? What made you the expert? Are you somehow the authority on what scientists agree on? Yea, ....I don't think anyone is. So........yea.....
I can read, T. And I go to credible sources like the scientists themselves.
There is no debate among scientists regarding global warming. Even the ones hired by the Koch's to find otherwise.
jock,
I agree that you can read(sadly.) But I also concluded that you are one of those intellectual idiots! YOU CAN READ BUT YET YOU CANNOT THINK. I am pretty sure that you are from one of these following countries: Pakistan, Afgan, or India!
Guy, you seem "pretty sure" of a lot of things things you have no clue about. I am a scientist and an intellectual, and I do not claim anything unless I have researched it my self. You can assume that everybody who disagrees with you must be stupid, but it still won't make you right.
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those stupid cavemen, they fed the t-rex so much grass that he farted creating gas which made the world warmer and they died ...ok??
If you say so.
Idiots throw around astronomical numbers like candy to the kids. How long do you think you could survive a meager 10 degree spike to say 130 degrees F for a month?
Such a tiny change for such a tiny length of time but it's enough.
I went to high school in the early 1970's. Even then, it was well know that all that coal and petroleum going into the atmosphere was going to heat the planet... remember Venus?
The Republican Party has become a party of fanatics and fascist. A fanatic is a person who believes what he wants to believe and damn the evidence. A fascist is an individual who believes that single individuals should own all business and the state. A fascist does not believe that a group of people should be allowed to come together to decided how to govern themselves or to regulate business.
Mitt Romney is a CHRISTAIN HERETIC OF AN APOSTATE CHURCH. How anyone of a Christian background could vote for this liar and fanatic is beyond me. Might as well vote for Lucifer for President.
if you stand on the corner and yell at people someone might believe you, give it a try!!
And then there is you, who went to school in the 70's and believes everything his liberal media conjures up. Keep a "hatin" hippie.
And I was in elementary school in the 70's and I remember learning EVERY year about the coming ice age. The topic is changed to fit the current data, but it is nothing more than a money grab. Remember the evils of aerosols in the 70's that would make an ozone hole that would COOL the planet?, acid rain in the 80's? There was Global Cooling and Global Warming in the 20's, 30's and 40's also.
Some scientists speculated bauot in ice age in the 1970's, but more though greenhuose warming would eventually win out. We didn't know as much back then so there was no consensus.
Nobody said the ozone hole was going to cool the planet, but it does still exist, although the situation is starting to improve since we banned the CFC's. The problem is they stay up there a long time.
Any christian who is also a republican is a hypocrite...just saying.
obozo could tell the usefull idiots the world is going to freeze over tomorrow, and they would believe him
This has nothing to do with politics. Anthropogenic global warming is accepted by the vast majority of climate scientists.
uh jerk? it obozo and the obozobots trying to make this about politics
Well, some people think we should actually do something abuot the problem, yes.
see the world was a perfect 70 for the past 4 billion years, then man came along and now we are all going to go burn to death...unless of course obozo can stop lowering the sea level long enough to save us
joe wont stay cool for long (doubt he ever was)
It's interesting to read the comments of people who have no grasp of what they are talking about and are simply repeating the misinformation they've been told by Faux News and the primary contributors to climate change. Things like "It's all part of a natural cycle the earth goes through...not caused by human activity and there's nothing we can or should do about it".
While it’s true that there have been natural cycles of warming and cooling in the past, the claim that they mean the current warming cycle is not contributed to by human activity is ludicrous. Here’s a link to a chart showing the correlation of CO2 levels, Temperatures and Sea Levels over the past 420,000 years. () If the link doesn’t post, search for John
Englander CO2 420kyr chart.
It clearly shows that the CO2 levels have always peaked at about the same level…until fairly recently (which corresponds to the time period when humans began to burn fossil fuels), when the CO2 levels began to increase more and more as we burned more fossil fuels and have now zoomed far past all previous levels. Clearly, human activity is involved.
Since CO2 levels, Temperature and Sea Levels are so closely connected, temperatures and sea levels are sure to follow, unless we do something to stop it. Here’s another link to a very recent Nova program that carefully examines the issue and is well worth watching. () If the link won’t post, search for PBS WGBH Nova Earth Secrets Beneath the Ice. It deals with the falsehood that Antarctica either isn't being affected or will not be affected very well.
The fact is that 97% of scientists agree that Climate Change is real and that human activity is a factor. () If the link won’t post, search for NPR 2011 Climate Change Public Skeptical Scientists Sure.
It’s also a fact that the overwhelming percentage of the small amount of scientists who disagree are employed by the industries that contribute the most to CO2 increases, like the Oil, Coal and Gas industries – who also have been proven to pay other scientists to publish information casting doubt on Climate Change – exactly like the Tobacco companies did when they were trying to protect their profits by denying that tobacco caused cancer. Does anyone today really believe that tobacco doesn’t cause cancer? () If the link won’t post, search for Guardian Environment 2011 Climate Change Skeptic Willie Soon.
If that doesn’t convince you, consider this fact - Insurance companies (not known to be wildly liberal) are making their clients plan for climate change – and even the Oil companies are planning for it. () Search for 2012 Oil Companies Actually Planning Climate Change.
As the old saying goes, “You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts”. Denying climate change is, at this point, like denying that the Earth is round or that it orbits the Sun, instead of the reverse. Of course, about 20% of Americans still believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth – or say they don’t have an opinion about an issue that was settled scientifically in the 17th Century…so there will always be those who simply will not accept facts. Heck, there are a fairly sizeable number of people who still believe the world is flat!
The problem is the outcome of not doing anything versus doing something. If we do something and the deniers are right - what's the loss? It will create some jobs in alternative industries and we'll be able to deal with the costs. If we DON'T do anything and the deniers are wrong - the planet becomes uninhabitable, pure and simple. Huge increases in sea level, loss of coral reefs due to acidification - which will affect 25% of the food supply of the world, shrinking sizes of fish due to warmer waters - which is already happening, increased drought areas - which is already happening and increased major storms world wide - which is already happening.
Think of it as an insurance policy. You don't really expect your house to burn down, do you? If it did, though, it would be a catastrophe, so you pay some money and take some precautions to prevent it or mitigate the damage. Same principle here. Stop being ideologues and start being pragmatists...we only have ONE PLANET!
OK, fine, it exists. What is the solution to save mankind? Do you think it will come from those climatologists or an evil corporation? It sure as hell won't come from government, they only want to retain power over it and payoff their friends.
There are many people working on solutions. We know what to do, but lack the will to do it.
Well Jock, perhaps you true believers of climate change should go petition Congress to "do something" rather than wasting your time on these boards.
So we have had CO2 measuring equipment for 420,000 years. a based on that "fact", we link it to "man made" global warming. "Volcanic activity releases about 130 to 230 teragrams (145 million to 255 million short tons) of carbon dioxide each year."
Wasting time is more fun.
Gunsmith, there are many lines of evidence for the conclusion of "man made" global warming. The existing temperature record is only one of them and would not be sufficient by itself.
Volcanoes release less than 1% as much carbon dioxide as human industrial activity, on average.
95% of the worlds sewage gets pumped directly into the worlds oceans...china, india and most of the worlds developing countries do nothing to stop green house gases. so we are all doomed to burn up, face it
Exactly, If we let the government 'solve' the problem it will cost 50 Trillion, take 50 years, and it won't work. Offer a $1 Trillion to those evil corporations to fix it and it will be fixed by next Christmas, and a freebie to teh rest of the world
No it won't Stunned...we're all doomed.
Stunned...you really believe the corporations that are making hundreds of billions of dollars in profits under the current system will "fix the problem" that is creating those profits? These are the same corporations that systematically bought up and destroyed the public transit systems in over 100 cities in the early 20th century so they could make more money selling cars and gasoline...and are spending millions to create misinformation and "doubt" about the science showing the problem exists. They're following the same pattern as the tobacco companies and for the same reason...they value profit more than human lives or the planet.
Your attitude toward government is the result of a carefully crafted program that they've been running for the last couple of decades...designed to get people like you to believe the government can't do anything right. Who built the highways, the water treatment plants, the sewage plants, the airports, seaports, etc.? Who runs the fire departments, the police departments, the FBI, the Military? Government, that's who!
The problem is that people like you vote for people who openly state that they hate government and want to destroy it...then, when they are elected and do their best to follow through on their promise - you don't blame THEM for the problems...you blame the "government". Try voting for some people who actually want to provide GOOD government instead of trying to prevent it from functioning well - like it used to be - and you would be surprised at the difference it would make.
I expect you're a Republican or a Tea Party member and believe their policies are the best way to achieve prosperity and success, right? Here's my question. If that's true, then why is it that the most strongly Republican states have the lowest incomes, lowest level of education, lowest standard of living and receive the highest amount of federal money? Shouldn't it be the other way around? The fact is that you are in denial of the facts about science AND government. Try to actually learn something about both before you comment.
Calijim
I guess that Cali-fornia liberal government is working real well for you...Lol
$100 to fill up your gas tank, 384 billion in debt, 2 million unemployeed, 4 million on food stamps.
You see the same picture on all "blue" states, highest debt per person, highest unemployment, highest foodstamps.
No $%#t Sherlock!
You have shown me the data for the first nine months of the year. I don't need to read the data because I lived through it - water under the bridge and useless data. Now, if you want to be useful. tell me what kind of weather are we, in the US, are going to have in the fall and winter of 2012!
You act/look/sound/behave like scientists, but you are completely not practical! What a freaking waste of man power, time, resources, money!!! Now tell me about the fall and winter weather of 2012 so I can schedule what I need to do about farming, house preventative maintenance, automobile repair, ice melt, snow blowers, shovels, economy.... You get my drift now???? The author of this article, please stop breathing because you are wasting our air - it is free, but you are still wasting it!
Go hide under a rock, would you!!!
So because people ca't predict the weather as well as you would like, they should stop breathing?
Bitter much?
jock,
You did not get my point! Telling me what the weather was two days ago is obsolutely useless because I already lived through it and I don't need you to tell me what it was! For example: If you are a NFL foot ball expert and let say I want to know your opinion on the Cowboys vs. Ravens game next week, I need to know who you think is going to win and by how much now! Telling me what the score should have been after the game is obsolutely useless!!!
This article is not about the day to day weather, so of course it is not going to help you with that. Go find a weather report. This article is about the past temperature record. If you want to learn about dogs, don't read an article about cats, and then insult the author for writing it.
Ravens will win by 14.
"So what will the deniers go with today? There is no climate change? The reality is that there is global cooling?
Ridiculous. The reality is that the earth is warming at an alarming rate, and we are the cause of that increased rate of warming.... "
Mars is increasing temps at the same rate...perhaps that rover is more of a pollutant than we thought? Use google and look up the solar heat cycles . Maybe you'll learn something.
"Mars is increasing temps at the same rate..."
No it isn't.
jock,
How do you know that Mars is not increasing temps at the same rate????? I am not saying that it is or it isn't, but how in the heck did you come up with this wild @ss conclusion? Do you have a thermometers that has been monitoring Mars' temperature for the last couple hundreds of years - you are not that old! If you are over 200 years old and have been a scientist for a little bid longer than that, show me your data!!!
If the scientific community is reading your posts right now, what kind of names do you think they are calling you right now? Take a wild guess, it starts with an I and ends with a T!
You are correct that I should have said there is no evidence for the statement rather than that it definitely isn't true. But the likelihood of it being true is very low, and the deniers shouldn't be repeating it as if it was some sort of science.
Jock you appear extremely intelligent. I am impressed with your patience with all these morons on here. I cannot remain civil when these folks post, all i can do is picture their crops burning to a crisp along with their children and grandkids and chuckle. You are a bigger person than I.
How much did the government spend on you to put out this kind of out dated information???? For crying out loud, stop wasting tax payers' money. You people are very educated but would you put your energy to do something a little bid more productive than just sit on your @sses and put out junks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
How is this outdated? It is about the first 9 months of the year. It isn;t very exciting, I'll admit, but it certainly isn't outdated.
jock,
Which part of the word 'outdated' don't you understand? The data that the author showed here for the last nine months will not tell you anything about the weather in the coming up fall and winter! Let me put it this way, what are you going to do with the data that the author presented here - obsolutely NOTHING!
Can you use the data to say that the 2012 fall/winter is going to be hotter or colder than last year? Well the answer is NO, NO, and NO!!!!!!!!
They never said they could. I agree the story is relatively useless but it is not wrong. It's been a very warm year so far and probably will end up being a record, regardless of ther weather this fall.
The solution to climate change is simple and it's right at our finger tips.
Keep eating, and eating, and ea..... By 2020 they figure that 1 in 2 Americans will be obese, children will die before their parents, adults will die of stroke, diabetes, heart attacks......
Fewer people alive, less honking big SUVs being driven, less CO2 and voila problem solved.
That is unless the drought, fires, tornados, etc. make us run out of food first. Well, it is what it is.
Well the world is only so |<-M->| big and can only hold so much biomass like a cup it gets to full and spills out from the brim rand >0< rand and thirty deep. Not just human everything, the world can hold these things up to a certainn inevitable point. primary pseudo perfect infinity+1 repeating and all we do is try to keep as many as we can alive or prevent death in a multitude of ways to ever increase our overall population and the pinnacle of our technology is still a grossly inefficient internal combustion engine using dead animals from 50 plus million years ago as fuel, but hey realestate in space? The things invented all fall apart like thoughts in a hour glass making their way to the bottom.
A compressor will explode if it holds to much air.
The libs will scream and squawk about how giving tax cuts to the wealthy negatively impacts the middle class; but they couldn't care less how much of an impact their green initiatives will cost all of us financially.
keep eating Dr. Man
Then you won't have to worry about anything. Death is inevitable to us all, even Drs.
Oh, and by the way, pity the wealthy, please do. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven". And before you shoot back, I have a Ph.D., own my own company and am still working because I love it, and have declined taking Social Security so other can.
Eisenhower, my fav. repub., is turning in his grave. This represents nothing of the greatest years of my life 1950', 60's, 70's.
Jody-if you care about the poor why do you want to increase their energy cost on a theory that is slowing falling apart-we have not warmed over the last 12 years-still not warm enough to grow grapes in the UK
Its not just about the poor. Its about the whole damn human race
Hi oi,
I grew up with 4H, scouting and have loved nature all my life. We are now heating our home with natural gas, and some solar. Our heating costs are way down. I have an Audi diesel car on order, drove one in France -- talk about economical. The rest of the developed world is soon going to be so far ahead in new sources of energy. Maybe, we can just wait and buy from them instead of being the leaders in technology.
But, yes let's fire more teachers, watch our math, science and reading scores continue to plummet. Finland, Canada, and South Korea are near to the top in all three. Reading the nonsense of some of these posts, I can see why.
The reason I think Eisenhower was the greatest was because he built a phenomenal infrastructure and highway system that let the US become even better in all areas of business. He tried to warn us about the military industry complex that would be the ruin of our future. He promoted technology and education. He gave the US the greatest middle class, that, in turn, spawned the greatest number of riches for the wealthy and the middle class. Oh, and, he played a ton of golf.
I don't think the Republican party would ever let him run as a candidate in today's world.
Give me a SOLID weekly forecast with accuracy and we can talk about how you know what's going to happen in 50-100-150-200 years from now.
Thanks
The average global temp has not gone up over the last 12 years-we are not as warm now as we were during the Medieval Warm Period-We need more data if this theory is to continue to be believed
I got this one. You are one or more of the below
Naysayer
Racist
Anti Gov
Tea Party
Repug
:)
You are all of the below:
Dumb*ss
Dipsh*t
F*cktard
Oh sh*t, call Al Gore, ManBearPig is back!
It is pretty interesting in reading through the comments that the warming issue, at least in this country, has become polarized by adherence to a political party as if it is more important to save political face than to simply look at the facts as they stand. I have always believed that I was somewhere in the middle of the bell-shaped curve that shifts like a gelatinous mass to the left or to the right with the times. Now it seems as if everyone is portrayed as being either extreme left or extreme right. As a moderate, mildly to the left of the center, I find that science is ultimately the winner, sometimes with in-course corrections, in every controversial issues raised by science. Nor is it really likely, as the R congressman said this week that such theories are created by old Satan down in the already globally-warmed Hell. One final suggestion to those who scoff at global warming: invest everything you have on an island home, four to eight feet above sea level, as a legacy for you family. If you are right, your kids will have a great vacation spot.
Great Comment! Its sad that people still can't seem to wrap their heads around what almost 99% of the science community has to say and has been saying for years
I bet the 1% is that lunatic from GA on the science committee...who doesn't believe in science.
All I have to say is that all the people who deny climate change as a man made phenomena will be eating their words 50 years from now.
We had abnormal cold this past winter and starting in mid September we are a month ahead of normal with cold weather coming in. I don't see how this adds up to the warmest year. One needs to look at the entirety and not just a month or two. Also, one needs to remember that certain organizations that profit on the threat of AGW have been forced to admit that they have hidden data that didn't support their preconceived conclusion.
All I have to say to all those who deny climate change as being a man made phenomena is that you will be eating your words 50 years from now if we as a human race do not start making serious changes.
jon-we have not warmed for the last 12 years-if we do not warm for the next 5 years will you consider the theory has problems-if not 5 then how about another 12 years
We are warming even now oi812. The "12 years" talking point is out of date. It was referring to the way the deniers used the exceptionally warm year of 1998 as a baseline to make it look like the recent trend was flat. It was dishonest then and it still is.
Another 12 years will probably be enough to convince most people, but it is hard to say because the climate is naturally so variable. But it will go up in the long run.
Global warming is starting to make a comeback in the liberal media.Al Gore must need more money for jet fuel.
It never went anywhere, and never will. The funniest thing is that the deniers actually believe this will all go away if they close their eyes tight enough for long enough. Nope. Reality will still get here when you wake up.
LN:
Your critical thinking skills are as good as mine. No one will be calling us for answers to the brave and interesting problems:-)