Alastair wrote:

Alastair has the global temperatures increased drastically this year?

No, because sea surface temperatures are being held down by the
melting sea ice.

If you want to see a drastic increase you will have to wait for the
next big El Nino like that in 1998, or for the Arctic sea ice to melt
completely.

It seems to me that El Nino has already building up during the past couple
of months. Also, the N Pacific is much warmer than the past couple of years
- in spite of the the statements last year that several years or decades of
cold SSTs had begun in that region. Whether this El Nino will be anything
like 1997-8 or more like 2006 is anyone's guess.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."