Remember the claims a few months ago that global temperatures are on the way down?  We wish! Here’s the latest data from the Climatic Research Unit and the Met Office.

2009 was the sixth warmest on record. Average global temperatures do vary quite widely from year to year, but the trend is what counts; and of the last 15 years, only 1996 was not in the top 15. And we’re 90% sure that the changes are caused by human activity, because CO2 from human activity has a different carbon fingerprint from ‘normal’ CO2 - which varies because of sunspot activity and distance from the sun etc etc.

2008 was the tenth warmest on record (and has now therefore dropped to eleventh).