El Niño Could Make 2010 the Hottest Year Ever

Climate scientists have warned that 2010 could turn out to be the warmest year in recorded history

HOLLY NOTE: We're seeing evidence of this as well; yesterday it was 90ºF (32ºC). Hot, dry, windy – a nasty harbinger for late May. Everything is early this year. Lawn mowing began in March. Tomatoes are close to first picking. We've harvested garden lettuce, radishes, onions and spinach for the past month. Peppers are already showing fruit. Ditto for the orchard, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Yet in many parts of the country, crops have been clobbered by late frosts, late snow, hail and floods. Despite these challenges, you must get home gardens in early when facing extra hot summers. Tomatoes and peppers are prone to blossom drop when temps hit 90ºF and lettuce bolts making it taste bitter. It's easier to combat cold weather and hail than too much heat. Besides raised beds, we've also planted a number of containers with tomatoes and peppers. So when it gets miserably hot, or summer and fall say "goodbye" for 2010, we'll bring them indoors and still enjoy year-round veggies with taste, not the cardboard imitations grocery stores pass off as food. To get in early harvests, we hope you followed the growing guidelines in Garden Gold that lets you plant early, harvest crops longer into fall and circumvent most all weather dramas. It's the best way to beat Nature's onslaught.

May 23, 2010
Jonathan Leake
UK Sunday Times

CLIMATE scientists have warned that 2010 could turn out to be the warmest year in recorded history.

They have collated global surface temperature measurements showing that the world has experienced near-record highs between January and April.

Researchers working independently at the Met Office and Nasa are soon to publish data that reveal the trend is likely to continue for the rest of the year.

James Hansen, director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss), a world centre for climate monitoring, said: “Global temperatures, averaged over the past 12 months, were the warmest for 130 years.

“December to February was also the second-warmest of any such period.”

Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, said: “It was a cold winter in Europe but, globally, January to March was one of the seven warmest starts to the year on record.

“This year has more than a 50% chance of being the warmest on record.”

The average global surface temperature is based on measurements taken from thousands of monitoring stations and satellites. These measurements are collated and independently analysed by the Met Office, Giss and at the National Climatic Data Center in North Carolina.

The Giss record shows that from January to April this year the global temperature was elevated by an average of 0.75C, compared with benchmark temperatures.

Climate change was not the only suspected cause.

Research suggests that the warming is also strongly linked to a temporary shift in Pacific currents, known as El Niño, which has caused the ocean to release large amounts of heat into the atmosphere.

Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, said: “We have seen rapid warming recently, but it is an example of natural variation that is associated with changes in the Pacific rather than climate change.

“However, this warming is in addition to the 0.7C long-term rise in global temperature caused by climate change. The record temperatures are due to the two factors adding together.”

John Christy, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, was cautious about predicting record temperatures for 2010, pointing out that the global datasets for temperature had flaws that could lead to rises being overstated. He said: “Be wary of climate forecasts — Mother Nature always seems to have a trick up her sleeve.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/uk_and_roi/article7134047.ece