More irrelevant and boring information: 2010 on pace to be planet's warmest ever

Snowstorm!

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about why the public discussion on climate change really does not hinge on the science at all. The discussion has been hijacked by forces that have little regard for the fuzzy, complicated, scienc-ey stuff.

And true to form, the loudest of the loudmouths  have seized on the American Midwest’s snowstorms and cold snaps as proof of the climate change hoax. (Nevermind, um, the record high temperatures in Phoenix and Southern California.)

So even though the science doesn’t seem to push the public opinion needle, it’s still interesting to go all Old School every once in a while and see what the data says. Lately, it says that 2010 is on pace to be the warmest year ever recorded on our humble planet.

Canada's 2009-10 winter warmest on record

Canada’s winter was the warmest since they started keeping records 62 years ago. Seven degrees (farenheit) above normal: http://bit.ly/cGAUkH

This data point for merely a few months on a small part of the planet’s surface is of no statistical significance when it comes to using (or misusing) it for the purposes of talking about climate change.

Still, it’s interesting. And so is this graphic showing the temperature departures from normal across the globe.

Here in the continental U.S. we were a little chilly. We know this because of the little blue dots over our nation. We also know because because Glenn Beck and Senator Inhofe and Rush Limbaugh went apoplectic and  frothed at the mouth every time it snowed in Washington or iced up in Atlanta.

But our Canuck neighbors weren't cool. They were exceptionally warm this winter. And, clearly, so was the majority of the planet.

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