2013 fourth warmest year on record

The lead story for Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (2013 fourth warmest year) at Daily Kos came from the Times of India.

No El Nino, yet 2013 fourth warmest year: US climate agency
By Subodh Varma, TNN | 22 Jan, 2014, 01.34PM IST

NEW DELHI: Last year, 2013, was tied with 2003 as the fourth warmest year since records began in 1880, according to the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For the 37th consecutive year, global temperatures were higher than the 20th century average.

Using the same data but calculating slightly differently, NASA said that 2013 was tied for the seventh warmest year with 2006 and 2009.  The difference between 4th place and 7th place is just two-hundredths of a degree. NASA had the "temperature anomaly" - how much the global temperature deviated from the average - pegged at 0.60°C and NOAA had 0.58°C.

"The long-term trends are very clear, they're not going to disappear, and people should be aware of that," Gavin Schmidt, Deputy Chief at NASA GISS, told reporters on a conference call Tuesday.

Let this be a reminder that the year just past was one of weather extremes.  Not only did Michigan have the wettest year in its history, and  California have the driest year on record with Governor Brown declaring a drought emergency, Australia had its hottest year ever.   Don't be fooled by Detroit being in the midst of its snowiest January on record or the regional cool anomaly noted by Minnesota Public Radio into thinking that the warming trend is over.  We still live in a 400 ppm world, and extreme weather of all kinds will result, hot and cold.  There is a reason why Floods in Colorado from ABC News and University of Colorado is the most read entry of the past year and the history of this blog so far.  Expect the wild weather to continue.