Forget Britney Spears or the presidential campaign -- Global Warming was the hottest thing in 2007! Al Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations held a Climate Change conference in Bali -- but again that's nothing compared to the fact that 2007 was the hottest year on record in the Northern Hemisphere! You go 2007!

2007 didn't waste any time getting hot.

When the calendar turned to 2007, the heat went on and the weather just got weirder. January was the warmest first month on record worldwide _ 1.53 degrees above normal. It was the first time since record-keeping began in 1880 that the globe's average temperature has been so far above the norm for any month of the year.

Now, if you're anything like the never-left-the-state-of-Massachusetts geniuses in my family you're probably spending Christmas Day shouting Rush Limbaugh's talking points. "The Earth has been heating up for centuries. It goes through cycles."

Well, what a "cycle" we Americans experienced in 2007.

At U.S. weather stations, more than 8,000 new heat records were set or tied for specific August dates.

More remarkably that same month, more than 100 all-time temperature records were tied or broken _ regardless of the date _ either for the highest reading or the warmest low temperature at night. By comparison only 14 all-time low temperatures were set or tied all year long, as of early December, according to records kept by the National Climatic Data Center.

During 2007, weather stations in 35 states, from Washington to Florida, set or tied all-time heat records in 2007.

Oh, that liberal National Climatic Data Center with all of their left-wing facts. Why can't they tell the families of those who died in heat-related deaths this summer, "Look, we're sorry for your loss but according to lots of people who don't like accurate science, the Earth heats up like this on it's own...uh, all the time. Trust me. I've read a lot of e-mail forwards from other like-minded people."

Having to crank up your air-conditioner (counter-productive) this summer is not the only proof that the planet is out of whack. Remember the tornado that struck in Brooklyn? The cyclone that hit Iran? The snow in South Africa? The unusual droughts in Atlanta, Florida, Los Angeles and Australia? The record rainfall in China and England?

Worst of all _ at least according to climate scientists _ the Arctic, which serves as the world's refrigerator, dramatically warmed in 2007, shattering records for the amount of melting ice.

Another member of my extended family -- he's a cop who has never left the state of Massachusetts except to vacation in Florida -- told me that Al Gore is being paid off by scientists! Perhaps the very same scientists who "claim" that massive amounts of ice are melting in the Arctic. Man, it's too bad that scientists don't have the ability to go the Arctic and study this melting ice in person. They're just making up this information from their ivory towers no doubt!

Meteorologists have chronicled strange weather years for more than a decade, but nothing like 2007. It was such an extreme weather year that the World Meteorological Organization put out a news release chronicling all the records and unusual developments. That was in August with more than 145 sizzling days to go.

Get used to it, scientists said. As man-made climate change continues, the world will experience more extreme weather, bursts of heat, torrential rain and prolonged drought, they said.

There you have it! If science is any indicator, 2008 is about to get even weirder. Get out those bikinis, tape up your storm windows and buy some rain boots! But most importantly, don't worry about a thing -- my reason-challenged cousins aren't. Happy New Year!

SleepyLady is still trying to recover from her 4.5 day holiday trip to see her family. Sorry.

FormerlySid

Providence, RI

June 2007

DEC 30, 2007 02:19 PM

They never left the Commonwealth? Wait, aren't we the state that sanctions gay marriage? I had a similar visit to the girl's ancestral home in Pennsylvania. Where are the progressives? Are we too busy looking at sets?

MarcMerm

West Hempstead, NY

April 2007

DEC 30, 2007 02:25 PM

Well first off, I thought Mass was a liberal state, electing that Kennedy guy all the time... after all his car something something. hehe

At any rate, I moved up from Florida to New York years ago to get away from the heat and humidity and what I learned from NPR, if global warming continues and the ice caps melt, NYC will be much colder due to the same principles as the lake effect that freezes Buffalo. So bring on global warming, I need 18 feet of snow!!!!

(for those who want more details.. ice caps melt, releasing lots of cold fresh water flood the oceans suppressing the gulf stream which keeps nyc temperate until osmosis creates and equilibrium).

Valeyard

Shreveport, LA

January 2005

DEC 30, 2007 03:11 PM

You can find backwards conservatives in any State

vaporeyes

New Zealand

November 2006

DEC 30, 2007 03:17 PM

If you are wondering why the weather has been strange and unpredictable.

TROPOSPHERIC AEROSOL PROGRAM

The Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) conducts reasearch on atmospheric radiation and the controlling atmospheric properties and operates facilities to conduct this research. As tropospheric aerosols are a significant influence on the radiation budget there is a natural overlap of interest between ARM and TAP.

http://www.asp.bnl.gov/tap.html

http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/

Tesla would be so pissed off at how they have used his technological breakthroughs.

PantherNesmith

Gloucester, VA

June 2006

DEC 30, 2007 03:32 PM

Poor Tesla. . .he's my favorite scientist.

And really, my mom used to say the same thing, until, well, this summer. Go figure.

And being without AC for about half of it, I can tell you it was hotter than fucking hell.