Breaking News! Houston, Michael W. and Dylan. (#2)

• Breaking News: 2010 tied for Earth's Warmest year on record

• 2010 is tied with 2005 for the warmest year of the global surface temperature record, according to the date released today by the NCDC (National Climatic Date Center, not to be confused with the popular rock band, ACDC) Earth's temperature was 1.12 degrees F above the 20th century average, which was also the same as 2005’s temperature. 
• 2010 is the 34th year in a row that global temperatures were above average, according to the NCDC. The last less-than-average year was 1976.
• The worldwide surface temperatures for 2010 were the warmest on ever recorded, being at 1.8 F above the 20th century average.
• Above average temperatures occurred for most of the world's surface. The warmest temperatures were in high altitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere. More specifically, Canada, Alaska, the tropical Atlantic Ocean, the Middle east, Eastern Europe, and Northern Africa.
• Nine of Earth's ten warmest years ever recorded by the NCDC have occurred since 2001, and all 12 of the 12 warmest years have occurred since 1997.
• The worldwide average surface temperature has risen more than 1 degree since the beginning of the 20th century. Most importantly, within the past three decades, the rate of global temperatures warming has been roughly three times greater than the century scale trend. 
• In a different global temperature report last week, 2010 tied with 1998 by a very short amount. In fact, 2010 was .02 degrees F cooler than 1998, which reporter calls an amount that is not statistically significant.î Although, if the average temperature rose 1 degree in the 20th century, I would think that .02 would be a significant number. Because if every year had a .02 degree increase, then in the 21st century the average temperature would rise two degrees, instead of one. Twice as much as the century before. 

      This week, Atlanta, home to the busiest airport in the world was hit by yet another cold snap. The streets were covered with a layer of ice as thick as a hockey rink, in some places. Plus, since Atlanta doesn’t usually have this kind of severe winter weather there were no snowplows available and the city had to use manual labor to clean the streets. Over 1000 motoring accidents have been reported because of the ice. I think that this important to realize that since Atlanta was so unprepared how huge of an effect a couple inches of snow has on it. If the same thing happened in a city like New York it would be cleared in days. This shows how you always need to be prepared for anything no matter what you expect to happen since that’s not necessarily what’s going to happen. The bad weather also affected Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Delta had to cancel 1,400 of its flights on Monday due to the icy conditions of Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. This recent cold weather has renewed a still running debate about global warming, and although many scientists argue that the cold weather is a cause of global warming, people are still skeptical and are saying that that hype about global warming has left everyone unprepared for the coldest decade in years.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2011-01-12-2010-warmest-year-climate-change_N.htm