NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reports 4th warmest May

I post this with the full awareness that there are folks out there who believe that NOAA ust makes this shit up.


http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2009/may/global.html

Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the fourth warmest on record for May, the fifth warmest for boreal spring (March-May), and tied with 2003 as the sixth warmest January-May year-to-date period.
March-May 2009 temperatures were above average across Mexico, Europe, southern South America, northwestern Alaska, northwestern and southern Africa, parts of Australia, and most of the contiguous U.S., and Asia. Cooler-than-average temperatures occurred across the Hawaiian Islands, Canada, and parts of the north central and northwestern United States.
Precipitation during March-May 2009 was above average across the eastern half of the contiguous U.S., northeastern Brazil, and southeastern Asia. Drier-than-average conditions were observed in South Africa, Alaska's panhandle, parts of northeastern and southern South America, eastern and southern Asia, most of Australia and the western half of the contiguous United States.
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) neutral conditions persisted across the equatorial Pacific Ocean during May 2009.

Contents of this Section:
Introduction
Global Temperatures
Global Precipitation
ENSO SST Analysis
NH Snow Cover Extent
Sea Ice Extent
Troposphere
Stratosphere
References


The data presented in this report are preliminary. Ranks and anomalies may change as more complete data are received and processed. The most current data may be accessed via the Global Surface Temperature Anomalies page.


Introduction
Please Note: Beginning with the July 2009 State of the Climate Report, NCDC will switch to a new version (version 3b) of the extended reconstructed sea surface temperature (ERSST) dataset...

Buncha freedumb-haters if you ask me . . .

are just in it for the money. Everybody knows riding around in chauffeur-driven Mercedes limos. They think they're so smart, just because they know "Arithmetic". Hah ha. Like who doesn't!

it was the 16th warmest (and 16th coolest) May in the last 31 years.
Data source: http://vortex.nsstc.uah.edu/public/msu/t2lt/tltglhmam_5.2

Remote Sensing Systems agrees.
Data source: ftp://ftp.ssmi.com/msu/monthly_time_series/rss_monthly_msu_amsu_channel_tlt_anomalies_land_and_ocean_v03_2.txt

Both systems use satellite data.

Those are measurments of tropospheric temperature. Their conclusions about global temperatures are based on surface measurements. See the posted article for details.

" The May 2009 map shows warmer-than-average temperatures across much of the world's land areas, with the most anomalous warmth over Alaska, Iceland, the western contiguous U.S., and much of Europe and Asia. Meanwhile, cooler-than-average conditions were present across New Zealand, Canada, and parts of western and central Asia and Australia. Temperatures were 2-5°C (4-9°F) below the 1961-1990 average across large areas in Canada. According to Environment Canada, some locations across Ontario, Canada had their coolest mean temperature since 2002; meanwhile, the town of Kapuskasing had its coolest mean temperature since 1997 (Source: Environment Canada).

Sea surface temperatures during May 2009 were warmer than average across much of the world's oceans, with the exception of cooler-than-average conditions across parts of the northeastern Pacific, and parts of the northern and central Atlantic and Southern oceans. SST anomalies in all Niño regions continued to warm during May 2009, indicating persistence of ENSO-neutral conditions. Please see the May 2009 ENSO discussion..."

Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Personally I think that the surface data is less then reliable. I've posted why previously.

is heat that is being radiated out from the earth. What we are debating here is the nature and effects of greenhouse gases, which, by definition, trap heat at the surface. For the purposes of this discussion, surface temperatures seem to me to have greater relevance.

Perhaps, but how accurate are they? As I've stated earlier, I think they are less then accurate. That doesn't mean that I doubt the earth has warmed in the last 100 plus years. It just means that I don't think we have any idea how much.

The satellite data also shows a (lesser) warming but only goes back 31 years. The question is; how much is natural variation and how much is caused by man?

:rofl:

They are NOAA satellites but UAH processes the data for NOAA. So no they don't trump NOAA. In a real sense they are NOAA.

Cute little animated laughing logo though.