And while it was winter in the US, Ireland and the UK, it was summer in parts of Africa, most of South America, and Australia. There's also a lot of water in the southern hemisphere. So, the fact it was cold in the US is, globally, pretty irrelevant.
That's why the scientists average over the surface of the earth and over and beneath the oceans to determine the 'global temperature'.
Jason,
Once upon a time? In a galaxy far, far away? I will ask this again. Where is a statistical analysis showing a statistically significant change in climate accounting for multiplicity?
This is not an odd request. To be making claims of certianty within science this is a MUST.
You are talking about weather.
Climate is measured over the whole Earth over more than a decade, to average out ocean and sun cycles.
I'm not concerned about a warming world. I'm welcoming it considering that historical records prove a warmer world is a more prosperous world for life.
It depends on the time frame. As Jim Z says, when you consider a time frame of millions of years, Earth has been cooling.
Warming since 2011
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/gistemp...
Warming since 2008
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/gistemp...
Warming since 1998
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/gistemp...
And, for the time frame that really matters, warming since 1984
http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/gistemp...
Neither. Both are weather. You need long term trends of the global average temperature.
remember the US is one small part of a bigger world and the world overall is still warming
I believe the Earth goes through cycles of both warming and cooling.
Its slowly returning to normal after 34 years. Have patience. Mike
The world is warming
Since we are all concerned about global warming but considering the US just a couple months ago had a massive arctic freeze that was even felt as far as Florida, meanwhile the the UK and Ireland felt felt the effects of the Jet stream bringing huge currents across the Atlantic bring huge waves and torrential rain to Southern England.
Considering the UK and Ireland had a rather mild winter where as America and Canada almost froze to death, does this indicate earth warming or cooling? Or is climate change just effect the atmospheric conditions bringing unseasonal weather?
Warming
From what i understand North America is the only continent that's cooling. I live in Toronto, Canada and not only that this winter's was un tolerable , we had no summer in 2013. And now that The Great Lakes were completely frozen it'll take them forever to recover, causing below average temperatures near-by through out the summer.
Meanwhile entire Asia and Europe saw nearly 10 degrees above average.
This has to do with Polar-Vortex which hit North America this year and stuck around a while.
whatever is happening
extremes are coming more often
extreme wet
extreme dry
extreme hot
extreme cold
where once upon a time a place would perhaps have an extreme event once in a decade or so such is now occurring every 3 years or even yearly
in Australia record everything seems to be broken with each passing year
worming
