Friday, January 16, 2003


2003 tied for the world's second-hottest year, according to federal government data released yesterday.


The world's average temperature last year was 58.03 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. That's 1.03 degrees warmer than the 124-year world average.


The hottest year was 1998, with an average temperature of 58.14.


The United States fared a bit better than many other countries in 2003. Americans experienced only the 20th-hottest year on record last year, with an average temperature of 53.7 degrees. That was nine-tenths of a degree warmer than normal.


The five hottest years on record all have occurred since 1997, and the 10 hottest since 1990. It has been 221 months since the world recorded a colder-than-normal month.


The consensus of most climate scientists is that the world is warming and will continue to get hotter because gases emitted from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and gasoline, are trapping heat from the sun.


Global temperatures increased 1 degree in the 20th century and probably will increase 2 to 10 more degrees by 2100, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group that includes many of the world's leading weather experts, predicted in 2001.

"Mother Nature keeps reminding us that [global warming] is going on," said Kevin Trenberth, the head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "The evidence never really comes out to contradict it, even though the man on the street says, 'It's bloody freezing out here.' "



To view entire article, go to:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/health/7721956.htm