The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for May, March-May (Northern Hemisphere spring-Southern Hemisphere autumn), and the period January-May according to NOAA. Worldwide average land surface temperature for May and March-May was the warmest on record while the global ocean surface temperatures for both May and March-May were second warmest on record, behind 1998.
While this may surprise residents of the North Sea Region, it reflects the difference between localised weather pattenrs and global climate shift. Cooler regions in North America and Western Europe were more than balanced out by unusually high temperatures in areas such as Yunna, China and Ontario, Canada.
Whilst individual results are affected by a wide rnage of factors, this does fi into a trend that is the expected result of increased energy use. The report is a reminder of the need to tackle our energy use, and the importance of the work of ANSWER and other projects.
For the full story, see http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100615_globalstats.html