University studies live and die by grant applications. I am applying for a green energy, solar powered and wind energy driven system for drying clothes. I need $1.25 Million to study the feasibility of using a clothes line.

Ug, more junk science from the denial camp. The article you link mentions this, which of course must be ignored:

Yet, in its paper, the Met Office claimed that the consequences now would be negligible – because the impact of the sun on climate is far less than man-made carbon dioxide. Although the sun’s output is likely to decrease until 2100, ‘This would only cause a reduction in global temperatures of 0.08C.’ Peter Stott, one of the authors, said: ‘Our findings suggest a reduction of solar activity to levels not seen in hundreds of years would be insufficient to offset the dominant influence of greenhouse gases.’

So take data from respected researchers, then ignore their conclusions and substitute your own while wrapping yourself in their respectibility. Nice.

Back on planet Earth, disturbing news from NASA:

NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record
www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2011-temps.html

The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis that shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline.

"We know the planet is absorbing more energy than it is emitting," said GISS Director James E. Hansen. "So we are continuing to see a trend toward higher temperatures. Even with the cooling effects of a strong La Niña influence and low solar activity for the past several years, 2011 was one of the 10 warmest years on record."

The difference between 2011 and the warmest year in the GISS record (2010) is 0.22 degrees F (0.12 C). This underscores the emphasis scientists put on the long-term trend of global temperature rise. Because of the large natural variability of climate, scientists do not expect temperatures to rise consistently year after year. However, they do expect a continuing temperature rise over decades.

But what do those eggheads know?!

Ah, yes. Monique and her "science":

No, we’re not about to enter another ice age
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/no-the-thames-isnt-about-to-freeze-over/2012/01/30/gIQAlfzWcQ_blog.html

The Daily Mail in Britain tends to be terrific for news of the weird — who can forget its exposé on the girl who ate nothing but chicken McNuggets for 15 years? — and terrible for science reporting. Case in point: Their latest story on how the world is about to enter a mini-ice age...

Meanwhile, as the Met Office notes, the 2000s were clearly the hottest decade in the instrumental record, beating the previous record set in the 1990s, which in turn beat the previous record set in the 1980s. Despite what the Daily Mail says, the world is warming and the Thames isn’t about to freeze over. The paper does, however, raise excellent questions about the wisdom of eating nothing but Chicken McNuggets.

metofficenews.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/met-office-in-the-media-29-january-2012/

The jig is up, Russ. CRU is one of your (pro-global warming) people and they are acknowledging - give them credit for being honest - that there has been no global warming for fifteen years.

Those interested should check out the graphic in the Washington Post link above... "How Skeptics View Global Warming". Picture is worth a thousand words.

Yes, so long as we "cherry-pick numbers and start from the exceptionally hot El Niño year" of 1998 global warming can be made to appear to be on the wane. Unfortunately those same years are "nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record." Nothing at all to worry about.

Amazing how one can tell a Russ post just by running into a block quote in the early going.
Russ=junk politics.

To harken back to an earlier point in my life; Russ has "more excuses than a car thief going to jail".

Russ,

Here's an article from your esteemed Newsweek magazine on "global cooling" (not enough SUV's then to warm up the planet) in 1975. Remember the cover? Earth dressed up like a frozen orb. I'm sure you do because they used it fairly recently to show a liquid earth from "Global SUV Warming".

sweetness-light.com/archive/newsweeks-1975-article-about-the-coming-ice-age

Now Russ don't let the truth get in the way of a good ghost story....BOO!!!

Frankly I'm amazed that a post suggesting the Earth can't be warming unless we see a linear progression of increased temperatures year after year doesn't draw even an ounce of skepticism over here. Can't wait to see Monique's post this spring saying summer isn't coming because we had a cold front come through for a week. Keep up the good work, "science" gal!

Not sure what excuses I'm making. In any case, sorry to confuse y'all with the facts. You're free to go back to posting all the nonsense you like.

"Here's an article from your esteemed Newsweek magazine on "global cooling" (not enough SUV's then to warm up the planet) in 1975."

Hang tight, ANTHONY. The way things are looking, Newsweek may well turn out to be right thirty+ years later. (We'll just have to ignore all the years in between when they were wrong ...)

"Here's an article from your esteemed Newsweek magazine..."

My esteemed magazine? I don't read it, except maybe in the dentist's waiting room.

You guys really need some new material. You folks can't distinguish between the current scientific consensus and a single article written in a pop news mag? Honestly surprises me.

For anyone who cares to know...

www.skepticalscience.com/ice-age-predictions-in-1970s.htm

In the thirty years leading up to the 1970s, available temperature recordings suggested that there was a cooling trend. As a result some scientists suggested that the current inter-glacial period could rapidly draw to a close, which might result in the Earth plunging into a new ice age over the next few centuries...

The fact is that around 1970 there were 6 times as many scientists predicting a warming rather than a cooling planet. Today, with 30+years more data to analyse, we've reached a clear scientific consensus: 97% of working climate scientists agree with the view that human beings are causing global warming.

The great irony here is that Monique is making the same error in cherry picking data.

Russ,

You were right after all. We are all freezing to death and or sweltering at the same time. Reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode. Then again isn't that where all "progressives" reside?

"We are all freezing to death and or sweltering at the same time..."

Not following you there, although I'll admit that makes as much sense as anything science gal writes on the subject.

The fact is, the past decade was the hottest on record. That you folks must obfuscate that simple truth rather than address it says a lot about the viability of the denial postition.

The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.

Russ,

It's stunning how easily you move the goalposts when data doesn't fit your ideology.

Global temperature are ninth warmest since 1880? Why 1880? Seems like an arbitrary number, why 1880? 9th warmest? Hardly seems spectacular. Are you saying that in five years, 20 years, we'll have an idea whether the world is truly warming?
And if it doesn't, will you have another "qualification" for data that doesn't match what you want to believe.

Global warming reminds me of Occupy, you can't pin it down because it is everything to everyone.

"Global temperature are ninth warmest since 1880? Why 1880?"

That's the earliest year such information was recorded.

"9th warmest? Hardly seems spectacular."

It is when you consider that 9 of the 10 warmest years have been recorded since 2000.

"Are you saying that in five years, 20 years, we'll have an idea whether the world is truly warming?"

We? We already have scientific consensus on that. Will American conservatives finally agree with the science? I suspect it will become increasingly impossible for them to ignore.

"And if it doesn't, will you have another 'qualification' for data that doesn't match what you want to believe."

I didn't make any qualifications on the data. Nothing here contradicts the evidence that warming is occuring, evident to anyone with a basic background in statistics.

www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-stopped-in-1998.htm

Though humans love record-breakers, they don't, on their own, tell us a much about trends -- and it's trends that matter when monitoring Climate Change. Trends only appear by looking at all the data, globally, and taking into account other variables -- like the effects of the El Nino ocean current or sunspot activity -- not by cherry-picking single points.

For those who might find a little interest in it, I stumbled across this when looking up dates of weather records. Started a little before the aforementioned magical date of 1880.
From: s15.zetaboards.com/Irish_Weather_Online/topic/6986753/1/

50 facts about Ireland's weather, compiled by Irish Weather Online

1. The longest drought in Ireland occurred in Limerick between 3 April 1938 and 10 May 1938 (37 days).
2. The history of modern meteorology in Ireland dates back to 8 October 1860, when the first weather observations were transmitted from Valentia Observatory on Valentia Island in County Kerry to the British Meteorological Office.
3. The highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was 33.3 °C (91.9 °F) at Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny on 26 June 1887
4. The highest recorded air temperature in Ireland during the 20th Century was 32.5°C at Boora, Co. Offaly on 29th June 1976.
5. The lowest temperature was −19.1 °C (−2.4 °F) at Markree Castle, County Sligo on 16 January 1881. Castlederg recorded a Northern Ireland record low temperature of −18.6 °C (−1.5 °F) at 9:00 GMT on the 23rd December 2010.
6. The lowest grass minimum temperature recorded in Ireland was -19.6°C at Glasnevin, Dublin on 12th January 1982.
7. The earliest recorded tornado in Europe occurred at Rosdalla, near Kilbeggan in Co. Westmeath on April 30, 1054
8. In 1859, Irish scientist John Tyndall was the first to correctly explain why the sky is blue.
9. Cork Airport experiences the least thunder; receiving it 3.7 days per year on average. In neighbouring Co Kerry, Valentia Island experiences the most thunder; receiving 7.1 days per year on average
10. Some of the worst thunderstorms ever recorded in Ireland took place In Dublin on 11 June 1963. Severe flooding also occurred in various parts of the capital.
11. Scores of people were killed across the country on January 6, 1839, during The Night of the Big Wind
12. The driest year recorded in Ireland was 1887, with only 356.6 mm (14.04 in) of rain recorded at Glasnevin, County Dublin.
13. The highest monthly sunshine duration was 308.2 hours at Valentia, Co. Kerry in July 1955.
14. The lowest monthly sunshine duration was 6.4 hours at Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal in January 1974.
15. The snowiest weather station in Ireland is in Clones, County Monaghan; which receives, on average, nearly 30 days of snow and/or sleet per year
16. Rosslare, County Wexford is the sunniest location in Ireland, and receives on average 4.33 hours of sunshine per day (1,580.45 hours per year)
17. The dullest, i.e., least sunny, part of the island is in the northern half of the country. Clones, County Monaghan is the least sunniest location in Ireland, receiving on average 3.19 hours of sunshine per day (1,164.35 hours per year).[3]
18. The highest wind speed ever recorded in Ireland was 200 km/h (124 mph; 108 kn) at Kilkeel, County Down on 12 January 1974.
19. The highest 10-minute mean wind speed was 71kts at Foynes, Co. Limerick on 18th January 1945.

There's more, but not much of relatively recent years. It must have been all those SUVs going around in the 1800s.

6 months later...
nes.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/prod/f?p=100:1:276967722002878::::P1_ARTICLE_SEARCH:351

Scorching temperatures during the second half of the month broke or tied over 170 all-time temperature records in cities across America. June temperatures also contributed to a record-warm first half of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895.

Uh oh, indeed....
www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/

During the June 2011-June 2012 period, each of the 13 consecutive months ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895-present record. The odds of this occurring randomly is 1 in 1,594,323.