Some quotes from a NOAA article on this matter:
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.
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Global Highlights – May 2010
The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for May was the warmest on record, at 1.24°F (0.69°C) above the 20th century average of 58.6°F (14.8°C).
The global land surface temperature for May was 1.87°F (1.04°C) above the 20th century average of 52.0°F (11.1°C) — the warmest on record.
The May worldwide ocean temperature was the second warmest on record, behind 1998. The temperature anomaly was 0.99°F (0.55°C) above the 20th century average of 61.3°F (16.3°C).
Warm temperatures were present over most of the globe’s land areas. The warmest temperature anomalies occurred in eastern North America, eastern Brazil, Eastern Europe, southern Asia, eastern Russia, and equatorial Africa. The Chinese province of Yunnan had its warmest May since 1951. Numerous locations in Ontario, Canada had their warmest May on record.
Anomalously cool conditions were present across western North America, northern Argentina, interior Asia, and Western Europe. Germany had its coolest May since 1991 and its 12th coolest May on record.
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Global Highlights – March-May 2010
The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the March-May season was 58.0°F (14.4°C), which is the warmest such period on record and 1.31°F (0.73°C) above the 20th century average of 56.7°F (13.7°C).
The worldwide land surface temperature for March-May was 2.20°F (1.22°C) above the 20th century average of 46.4 °F (8.1°C) — the warmest on record.
The worldwide ocean surface temperature was 0.99°F (0.55°C) above the 20th century average of 61.0°F (16.1°C) and the second warmest March-May on record, behind 1998.
Very warm temperatures were present across eastern and northern North America, northern Africa, Eastern Europe, southern Asia, and parts of Australia. Tasmania tied its warmest March-May period on record. The Northeastern U.S. also had its warmest March-May period on record. Conversely, cool temperatures enveloped the western U.S. and eastern Asia.
Western Europe was particularly dry for its spring season. For the United Kingdom, it was the driest spring since 1984, and the twelfth driest since the UK record began in 1910.
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The CO2 levels are heading up, up and up. 350 ppm is considered the upper safe limit we could comfortably live with on this planet... but we passed that point long ago and don't look to be hitting a u-turn anytime soon.
I think our direction's pretty clear now. Still, there are enough fanatics irl and online wanting to have their cake and eat it too. I think we need to start ignoring them, stop giving them a platform to spout their nonsense. Their misinformation has been debunked time and again and yet again, enough of that! Our energy needs to go in a different direction.
What are we going to do?!?! Part of me wants to throw my hands up and say fuck that, I give up. Another part of me is looking at my (adult) son, at the children of my family and friends, and I simply can't give up. We just cannot leave them the world in this state.
It's too late to stop the change but maybe it will be possible to put the brakes on and make it survivable, at least. Maybe we can still make plans for coping with the changes.
We need to accept that really serious changes are coming and within our lifetime. We need to start thinking, talking, acting adaptation. And we need to act on this on a global scale. And we truly need to halt the upward trend of carbon emissions for this to have a snowball's chance in hell.
We need to understand this issue down to the bones, and we need to develop a sense of urgency.
Because it is urgent.
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