A reader passes along this story from the AP.

WASHINGTON — Winter storms and snow notwithstanding, this winter was still warmer than average worldwide, the government reported Thursday.

The global temperature for meteorological winter — December, January and February — averaged 54.38 degrees Fahrenheit, 0.58 degrees warmer than normal for the last century, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported.

This is the Earth’s 23rd consecutive warmer-than-average winter.

Temperatures have been rising over recent years, raising concerns about the effects of global warming, generally attributed to human-induced impacts on the atmosphere.

While it was warmer than normal, the just completed winter was the coolest since 2000-2001, which climate experts attributed to the presence of moderate-to-strong La Nina, or cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean, which can affect conditions around the world.

I’m not disputing the temperatures recorded, just saying that the article itself is a bit slanted. Especially the conflicted headline: Global winter coldest since ‘01, but still warmer than usual.

Two questions: Is someone getting jittery that all this cold weather might lessen the worry about global warming? Do I really trust global temperature readings from organizations that have been known to leave their thermometers laying around on hot blacktop?

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Media Bias, Super Scary Global Warming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.