Last month, NASA reported it was the hottest January-July on record, along with the analysis, “July 2010 — What Global Warming Looks Like <1>,” which noted that 2010 is “likely” to be warmest year on record.

This month continues the trend of 2010 outpacing previous years, according to NASA <2>:



It seems all but certain we will outpace 1998, which currently ties for fourth hottest year in the NASA dataset <3> (though it is technically described by NASA folks as tied for the second hottest year with 2005 and 2007).

Outpacing 2005, the hottest year on record, will be closer. In NASA’s surface-based dataset, we are unlikely to set the record monthly temperatures for the rest of this year; last month wasn’t close to the hottest August for NASA. We have entered a moderate La Niña, which NOAA says <4> is “expected to last at least through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2010-11.”

Interestingly, while the disinformers have been breathlessly touting the La Niña as sure to cool things down rapidly, global temperatures have held up quite well, even in the satellite datasets, which are typically sensitive to the El Niño Southern oscillation (ENSO). The more trustworthy RSS <5> data for August is not yet up, but even the UAH <6> data for the lower troposphere shows August 2010 having almost an identical temperature to 1998, which was the hottest August on record.

http://climateprogress.org/2010/09/12/nasa... /