2006 - Warmest on Record in the US

(Also in the UK).

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "Affirms Human Influence on Climate".

A lot of government scientists have said it.

But until yesterday, it appeared that no news release on annual climate trends out of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Bush White House had said unequivocally that a buildup of greenhouse gases was helping warm the climate.

The statement came in a release that said 2006 was the warmest year for the 48 contiguous states since regular temperature records began in 1895. It surpassed the previous champion, 1998, a year heated up by a powerful episode of the periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean by El Niño. Last year, another El Niño developed, but this time a long-term warming trend from human activities was said to be involved as well.

“A contributing factor to the unusually warm temperatures throughout 2006 also is the long-term warming trend, which has been linked to increases in greenhouse gases,” the release said, emphasizing that the relative contributions of El Niño and the human influence were not known.

A link between greenhouse gases and climate change was also made in a December news conference by Dirk Kempthorne, the secretary of the interior, as that agency proposed listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Still, the climate agency’s shift in language came as a surprise to several public affairs officials there. They said they had become accustomed in recent years to having any mention of a link between climate trends and human activities played down or trimmed when drafts of documents went to the Commerce Department and the White House for approval.

From another article:

According to preliminary data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina, 2006's annual average temperature in the contiguous U.S. was 55°F (13°C)—the warmest since monitoring began in 1895.

That's 2.2°F (1.2°C) above the 20th century average and 0.07°F (0.04°C) warmer than 1998, the previous record holder.

The high temperatures contributed to a record U.S. wildfire season, deadly heat waves, and persistent severe droughts in a number of locations, along with many other climate anomalies.

According to NCDC, an unusually warm December tipped the scales.

Springlike conditions in much of the country made it the fourth warmest December on record, with five states experiencing their warmest Decembers and no state having temperatures below average, the NCDC report says.

The report adds that 2006 was the sixth warmest year globally, with temperatures 0.94°F (0.52°C) above average.

For a more global assessment see this.

Also: The Antarctic ozone hole reached record size in September 2006. (Photo courtesy NASA)

“From September 21 to 30, 2006, the average area of the ozone hole was the largest ever observed, at 10.6 million square miles,” said Paul Newman, atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The size and persistence of the 2006 ozone hole area with its record ozone mass deficit of 40.8 megatons can be explained by the continuing presence of near-peak levels of ozone-depleting substances in combination with a particularly cold stratospheric winter, the WMO said.