1999 Was Earth's Fifth Warmest Year
Reuters News Service
Thursday December 16, 1999
LONDON (Reuters) - This has been Planet Earth's fifth
warmest year since consistent global records began in 1860,
British meteorologists said on Thursday.
Temperatures around the world in 1999 were about 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the average for 1961-1990 and about 1.25 degrees Fahrenheit higher than temperatures at the end of the last century, the Meteorological Office reported.
Seven of the world's 10 warmest recorded years have been in the 1990s, the Met Office said in a statement.
``The rapid cooling of temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, the so-called La Nina, has contributed to 1999 being significantly cooler than 1998, the hottest year on record,'' said the Met Office's David Parker.
``This large natural year-on-year variability is exactly what we expect to see superimposed on a long-term warming due to man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
``Our forecast for 2000 shows a high probability of it being warmer than 1999 as the cold Pacific warms again naturally, but only a low probability of beating the 1998 record,'' he added.
The Met Office said it believed the 1990s were the warmest decade of the millennium.
In England, barring a late cold snap, temperatures were on course for 1999 to be the warmest year since records began in 1659, beating the previous warmest year, 1990, the Met Office said.