The following is quoted from:
http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Worldwide+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm
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Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling
Michael Asher (Blog) - February 26, 2008 12:55 PMTwelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming
Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has
exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its
first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most
snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since
record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold
in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South
Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.
No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has
been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global
temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have
released updated data. All show that over the past year, global
temperatures have dropped precipitously.
A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount
of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to
wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All
in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest
temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.
Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to
reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of
climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling
seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data
doesn't itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the
planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now
cooling it.
Let's hope those factors stop fast. Cold is more damaging than heat.
The mean temperature of the planet is about 54 degrees. Humans -- and
most of the crops and animals we depend on -- prefer a temperature
closer to 70.
Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum
were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as
the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news.
(Update 2/27: Anthony Watts, who kindly provided the graphics herein,
otherwise has no connection with the column. The views and comments are
those of the author only.)
"
I can tell you one thing, global cooling has certainly made its mark here in Toronto. Just look at the weather forecast for February 28 and take a look at the frozen mountains of snow outside. There was no February thaw this year.