Heard today that NOAA has already declared 2005 as the hottest

year on record with 3 months yet to go! This may have already been discussed. God, that is scary. 3 months yet to go and temperatures so hot that NOAA says this can't miss being the hottest year on record unless the whole world goes in the deep freeze.
My little corner of the world has been incredibly hot since April. I think we are averaging 8 degrees over normal for the year. Very little rain all year.
But of course some 'scientists' say global warming is a myth.

that the world is fucked.

Basically it was spring most of the summer. It is now the middle of October and only one light frost. The day time temps are in the 60's and will continue for the foreseeable future.
Global warming is not a temperature increase, it is an energy increase. Weather is energy driven. absolute temperature is just part of the equation.
This energy increase causes shifting in weather patterns. Hot places may cool off, cold places may warm up or not. Wet may go dry or dry may get wet.
* * * * * * * * *
Statement as of 2:20 PM CDT on October 13, 2005

... Winter outlook indicates milder weather probable...

The climate prediction center /CPC/ issued its preliminary winter
outlook for the December 2005 to February 2006 time frame. The CPC
indicates there is the likelihood that the upcoming winter will... on
average... favor above normal temperatures over a large part of the
central United States. There are currently no strong atmospheric
signals to indicate winter precipitation patterns over much of the
nation. The exceptions are above normal precipitation is expected
acorss portions of the deep south... with less than average winter
precipitation across portions of the southwest.

The CPC relies heavily on the existence of either an El Nino or a La
Nina /enso/ to make its winter outlooks. In the absence of a
significant El Nino and La Nina event... estimates of long-term
trends along with a variety of dynamic and statistical tools provide
the foundation for the forecast. One tool that is used at noaa's CPC
is the average conditions during the last 10 years compared with the
long-term average for 1971-2000. Average winter temperature
departures from normal for the period 1971-2000 are considerably
cooler than those for the most recent 10-year average over much of
the nation.

Local research indicates a slightly different picture. In years with
enso neutral Winters across the Red River valley tend to exhibit
more normal patterns of both temperature and precipitation. The main
message for this upcoming winter is to expect large week to week and
month to month variations in both temperature and precipitation.
This would be similar to the patterns of this past Summer... when
June was very wet and mild... July was mild and dry then August was
cool and wet.

Information concerning El Nino... La Nina and the winter outlooks are
available at the CPC web site at

Http://www.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.Gov/ (all lower case)

As well as the Grand Forks NWS office at

Http://www.Crh.NOAA.Gov/fgf/ (all lower case)



http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=58103

down in the part that is bright red when you see a drought map. We've sat here and watch rain go around us like we had cooties.
But what I am talking about is the whole world. I heard this on Day-to-Day on NPR. The NOAA spokesman said NOAA gets 7000 temperatures multiple times a day. These are then averaged to get a 'world average'. I am not going to debate the method. They've been doing this for decades.
Anyway, this is the hottest year since 1998. It is already so hot that only a worldwide cold snap could stop it from far surpassing 1998. The really scary part is that 1998 was a huge el-nino year and that explained the high temps that year. The only explanation this year appears to be global warming.