Ninth warmest year since 1880

2012 recorded the ninth warmest global temperature since 1880--anyone surprised?

Hot off the press: NASA's annual global temperature measurement analysis finds that 2012 joined the top ten hottest years on record, taking ninth place.

WASHINGTON -- NASA scientists say 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.

A week earlier we heard that North America had exceeded its heat record again, 2012 was the warmest year measured in Yankeedom since measurements began in the 1880's. More importantly, the level of temperature anomaly greatly exceeded any year on record.

Coolest and warmest years since 1895, USA

Sadly, these announcements surprise no one. The personal experience and the expectations of most everyone center on measurable increasing warmth year after year.

It will be BIG news if and when we have a cool year that falls outside the top ten. Don't hold your breath. Get used to the hot air. Before you can mix up a cool drink, the counter-claims of conspiracy and poor science will hit the news cycle, take it over, and overwhelm the science with doubt in a cloud of noxious gas.

Global responses toward ameliorating CO2 inputs and adapting to inexorable warming are held hostage by the burgeoning Chinese economy screaming, It's our turn. Like you, we will fuel growth with cheap coal!

Economic interests in the West need no better excuse to stall cooperation through global agreements.

Adaptations to warmth and to weather extremes will be big business, soon!