2007 will be fifth hottest year on record -- ten hottest years haveall occurred since 1997 -- seven

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Worldwide, 2007 is on pace to be the fifth warmest

year on record, based on preliminary data released Thursday by federal

scientists. This year is expected to be the eighth warmest for the

United States since records were first kept in 1895.

A man wipes his face during a heat wave in New York City in July.

The average temperature for the year is expected to be about 58

degrees Fahrenheit worldwide, and about 54.3 degrees Fahrenheit across

the contiguous United States, said the report by NOAA's National

Climatic Data Center.

A vast swath of the United States was warmer than usual this year,

leading to severe drought conditions and wildfires in the West and

Southeast. Texas was the only state to record below-average

temperatures.

"Within the last 30 years, the rate of warming is about three times

greater than the rate of warming since 1900," said Jay Lawrimore,

chief of the climate monitoring branch at the center. "The annual

temperatures continue to be either near-record or at record levels

year in and year out."

In the United States, the months of March and August were the second

warmest in more than 100 years. Six states -- Kentucky, Tennessee,

South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida -- had the warmest August

on record.

All but four states -- Texas, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont -- had

either "above average" or "significantly above average" temperatures

from January through November, compared to the 113 years that records

have been kept. Wyoming had its second warmest year; Idaho and Utah

had the fifth-warmest years on record.

North Carolina had its driest year so far. From midsummer into

December, more than three-quarters of the Southeast was in drought,

the report said.

The problem in Texas, Lawrimore said, was too much rain, leading to

flooding and the wettest summer on record. The cloudy and rainy

weather for much of the year contributed to the cooler temperatures

for the state, he said.

Globally, seven of the eight warmest years on record have occurred

since 2001, and the 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1997,

said the report.

"When you see these numbers, it's screaming out at you, 'This is

global warming,"' said climate scientist Andrew Weaver of the

University of Victoria in Canada. "It's the beginning and it's

unequivocal."

Weaver said previous warm weather records probably would have been

broken this year were it not for some cooling toward the end of the

year because of La Ni

Prove it.

"Harold Burton" <hal.i.burton@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:hal.i.burton-1E4856.21564013122007@comcast.dca.giganews.com...

>

>

>

> Another leftard lie.

In article <_uydnV36gdCctf7anZ2dnUVZ_sGdnZ2d@comcast.com>,

"robw" <noddy093@comcast.net> wrote:

> Prove it.

Proved.