Links
Report: El Nino fueled record global warmth in January
Due to a strong El Nino climate pattern, the Earth's temperature in January 2010 was the warmest it's been in January in 32 years, according to climate scientists from the University of Alabama-Huntsville. El Nino is a periodic natural warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean, which also heats the atmosphere to above-average levels, and can affect weather worldwide.
"This has the potential of breaking the records set in February and April 1998, during the 'El Nino of the Century,'" atmospheric scientist John Christy said. "I looked at sea-surface temperatures in the central Pacific and it wasn't as warm as 1998, but what is there is spread out further than it was in 1998. That exposes the atmosphere to a lot of extra heat."
Overall, the Earth was about 1.3 degrees above average in January.