Hottest Weather Ever

The NOAA has released it's summer report for weather in the US in 2006. It's conclusion? A very warm December pushed 2006 past 1998 as the hottest calendar year ever recorded. Check out this map -- no one near normal. In 112 years, almost every state is showing a triple-digit (one of the 13 hottest years). Hot.


"The 2006 average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was the warmest on record and nearly identical to the record set in 1998. Based on preliminary data, the 2006 annual average temperature was 55°F, 2.2°F (1.2°C) above the 20th Century mean and 0.07°F (0.04°C) warmer than 1998."

And for the first time ever the US Historical Climatology Network calulation for average annual temperature broke the 55-degree (F) barrier. If the mean is just below 53-degrees, aren't we now officially two degrees into "global warming"?