2005-02-13

2004: 4th warmest year on record

2004 was the 4th warmest year on record, says NASA - though you knew that already since it appeared on RealClimate. What I hadn't quite realised, but NASA writes out in nice large letters so even simpletons like me can see it - is that they go (1) 1998, (2) 2002, (3) 2003, (4) 2004. Which is just the teensiest bit odd and possibly worrying (though the trend is clearly downward over the last 3 years - clear cooling - hah!), because even if the std GW projections are spot-on (of course they are...) natural variability should still jiggle the years around a bit (well, as they did after 1998 I suppose). And if you believe various reconstructions (e.g. last post on Moberg) then its the warmest in 2000 years.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your new owners on blogshares.com - the politico-legal-media complex (PLM) - appreciate that you fulfilled the daily task, spreading propaganda to promote the theory of global warming and the values of socialism and especially communism.

Your next task is to write an article that 2005 will be the warmest year since the Big Bang.

William M. Connolley said...

Greetings, new owners. You just about get away with that one, but anymore like that and you'll discover who is really in charge when your comment gets deleted :-)

As to 2005... it would be somewhat surprising (and really somewhat worrying) if it was in the top 4 too.

Luboš Motl said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Luboš Motl said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Luboš Motl said...

2004 was the probably the 9th warmest year since 1976.

William M. Connolley said...

No, 2004 was the 4th warmest year in the records, and probably in the last 2000 years.