2007 set to be 6th warmest year on record - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

2007 set to be 6th warmest year on record
Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:05am EST

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - This year is set to be the sixth
warmest since records began 150 years ago, cooler
than earlier predicted which means a slight respite
for European ski resorts or bears trying to hibernate.

"2007 will likely be near equal with 2006, so joint
sixth warmest year," Phil Jones, head of the Climatic
Research Unit at Britain's University of East Anglia,
told Reuters.

The unit, which provides global data for the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO), had predicted a
year ago that 2007 could be the warmest worldwide
since reliable records began in the 1860s. It cut
the prediction to number 2 in mid-year.

A sizzling start to 2007, blamed on a combination
of global warming and an El Nino warming of the
Pacific Ocean that meant an abnormally warm winter
in the northern Hemisphere, tailed off as the El
Nino ended early.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL2773467020071128