2007 could be the hottest year

GLOBAL TEMPERATURES will rise to their highest levels ever recorded this year, according to scientists at the UK Met Office.

GLOBAL TEMPERATURES will rise to their highest levels ever recorded this year, according to scientists at the UK Met Office.

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They believe there is a 60 per cent chance that 2007 temperatures will top the previous hottest year, 1998. The scorching predictions for 2007 are due partly to global warming and partly to a moderate El Niño event — a climatic phenomenon focused on the tropical eastern Pacific that affects climate globally, including the Indian monsoon.

1998 was a strong El Niño year with a global average temperature of 14.52 degrees Celsius. Prediction is that this year will be 0.02 degrees higher.

Predicting the global average temperature is not difficult — it does not vary much from year to year, said Phil Jones, director, climate research unit, University of East Anglia. “This is a global average and the larger the average you do it over the smaller will be the error bars on the prediction,” he said.
— The Guardian