Yes. It's called the passage of time. WA usually gets that hot for nearly that long most years. Glaciers recede and grow. It has far more to do with snow, than climate.
Ernie,you my be right but rain fall has lowered for around 22 years each year,and is gettin hotter each summer..just saying.steve..apologies for the previous insultations.
I dont think anyone doubts that temps have risen to 1998 or so world wide average, but two questions remain:
1. is it still continuing to warm up over all globally? While my native state of Texas got blistered and you guys down there too, the rest of the US has had cool seasons and the average world wide is a bit lower since 1998.
2. How much of this is due to human activity? I think some but I cant believe it is the primary driver of climate change when the release of CO2 by every day ocean activity dwarfs anything we do.
1. Yes, it is continuing to warm up worldwide.
UAH Global Temperature Update for Dec. 2011: +0.13 deg. C « Roy Spencer, Ph. D.
If you look at the graph on Dr. Spencer's site, you can see that 75% or better of the running average on the graph since 1998 has been above the high points on the graph prior to 1998. Not only that, in the year of the double La Nina, 2011, December was above the highest running average point prior to 1998. And 2010 equaled the running average high point of 1998. In fact, the running average has been above the highest running average points prior to 1998, since 2009.
2. No, the ocean does not release more CO2 than we do. In fact, the carbon cycle has the ocean absorbing and releasing equal amounts of CO2 when the climate is in balance. However, today, the ocean is absorbing far more CO2 than it is releasing, making the oceans a net absorber of CO2.
Oceans Found to Absorb Half of All Man-Made Carbon Dioxide
Oceans Found to Absorb Half of All Man-Made Carbon DioxideJohn Pickrell
for National Geographic News
July 15, 2004
Around half of all carbon dioxide produced by humans since the industrial revolution has dissolved into the world's oceans—with adverse effects for marine life—according to two new studies.
Scientists who undertook the first comprehensive look at ocean storage of carbon dioxide found that the world's oceans serve as a massive sink that traps the greenhouse gas.
The researchers say the oceans' removal of the carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere has slowed global warming.
But in a second, related study, scientists say the sink effect is now changing ocean chemistry. The resulting change has slowed growth of plankton, corals, and other invertebrates that serve as the most basic level of the ocean food chain. The impacts on marine life could be severe, scientists say.
"The oceans are performing a great service to humankind by removing this carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," said Christopher Sabine, a geophysicist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, Washington. "The problem is that this service has potential consequences for the biology and ecosystem structure of the oceans
