Global Conditions Right for a Warm One in 2005
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A weak El Nino and human-made greenhouse gases could make 2005 the warmest year since records started being kept in the late 1800s, NASA scientists said this week.
The warmest year on record was 1998, with 2002 and 2003 coming in second and third, respectively. Last year was the fourth-warmest, with a global mean temperature of 57 degrees Fahrenheit -- about 1.5 degrees warmer than in the middle of the century, NASA scientist Drew Shindell said. The rise in global temperatures in 1998 was associated with one of the strongest El Ninos of recent centuries.
