Environment

2008: the Coldest Year or the Warmest Year?

by Amy Judd | December 16, 2008 at 10:03 am

768 views | 6 Recommendations | 5 comments

Reports today suggest that 2008 could be the tenth coldest year since 1997, but still the warmest year in the last 150 years. Information out of Oslo suggest that this is the 10th warmest since records began in 1850.

"This year is about 10th," he told Reuters in a telephone interview. "La Nina in the Pacific lasted longer than we envisaged."

Jones's unit is one of the main sources of global climate data for the United Nations.

The warmest year on record was 1998, followed by 2005 and 2003, with other years this century closely bunched. Tenth place would make 2008 the least warm since 1999.

Data from Reuters says that this year will be the coolest since 1997, but still the 10th warmest since 1850.

The global mean temperature for 2008 was 14.3 degrees Celsius (57.7 degrees Fahrenheit), climate scientists at the UK's Met Office Hadley Center and Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, who compiled data for the WMO, said.

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Jarrett Martineau

at 10:42 on December 16th, 2008

It feels like it's been both to me!

Mary Richard

at 11:09 on December 16th, 2008

Huh??

Confused (not verified)

at 20:20 on December 17th, 2008

Wait. If this year is the coolest since 1997 that means there were 10 other years that were warmer than this year yet this is the 10th warmest year? Does this mean the titles wrong and it should say the warmest AND coldest year?

aurorafeizul

at 13:28 on December 18th, 2008

They want readers to make a guess then read the article to find out. If it said that 2008 is the coldest AND warmest year, readers would just look at the title and say, "Oh, okay." and move on without reading the text. I once saw an article that was titled "Are We Breeding a Generation of Cannibals?" and it went on to talk about how halloween candy these days is shaped like eyeballs and severed limbs. So, obviously we're not breeding cannibals, but the title got my attention.