Though it was only figured out a little while ago. Since we've had discussions on this topic in the past, I thought some people might be interested. Here\'s the link I found that seemed to best summarize the results. Key paragraph:

There are links in the original.

PJ
who's been "enjoying" triple-digit heat this week... yesterday we almost broke the record, set in 1988...

I checked out the original site and the original NASA figures, Pam.

NASA presents statistics for each individual year between 1880 and 2006. But it also puts each of these years, except 1880-81 and 2005-06 into its own unique "five year trend bin". To me, it seems that the five year bins show trends more clearly.

I have to admit that I don't understand just how the NASA people count when they arrive at their five year bins, except that each year is put in its own indivdual bin. I'm going to take NASA's figures at face value, and then this is what we see, when we find out what the "five year trend bins" have been like since 1882 and up to 2004. Has the weather for each bin been cold, average or warm?


Temperature: Cold Average Warm

1882...................x
1883...................X
1884...................X
1885...................X
1886...................X
1887...................X
1888...................x
1889...................X
1890...................X
1891...................x
1892...................X
1893...................X
1894...................X
1895...................X
1896...................x
1897...................X
1898.......................................X
1899.............................X
1900...................X
1901...................X
1902...................X
1903...................X
1904...................X
1905...................X
1906...................X
1907...................X
1908...................X
1909........................................X
1910...................x
1911...................X
1912...................X
1913...................X
1914...................X
1915...................X
1916...................X
1917...................X
1918...................X
1919...................X
1920........................................X
1921........................................X
1922........................................x
1923........................................X
1924...................X
1925...................X
1926...................X
1927........................................X
1928...................X
1929........................................X
1930........................................X
1931........................................X
1932........................................X
1933........................................X
1934........................................X
1935........................................X
1936........................................X
1937........................................X
1938........................................X
1939........................................X
1940........................................X
1941........................................X
1942........................................X
1943........................................X
1944........................................X
1945........................................X
1946........................................X
1947........................................X
1948........................................X
1949....................X
1950....................X
1951........................................X
1952........................................X
1953........................................X
1954........................................X
1955........................................X
1956........................................x
1957........................................X
1958........................................X
1959........................................X
1960.....................X
1961........................................X
1962.....................X
1963.....................X
1964.....................X
1965.....................X
1966.....................X
1967.....................X
1968.....................X
1969.....................X
1970.....................X
1971.....................X
1972.....................X
1973.....................X
1974.....................X
1975.........................................X
1976.....................X
1977.....................X
1978.....................X
1979.........................................X
1980.....................X
1981.....................X
1982.........................................X
1983.....................X
1984.....................X
1985.........................................X
1986.........................................X
1987.........................................X
1988.........................................X
1989.........................................X
1990.........................................X
1991.........................................X
1992.........................................X
1993.........................................X
1994.........................................X
1995.........................................X
1996.........................................X
1997.........................................X
1998.........................................X
1999.........................................X
2000.........................................X
2001.........................................X
2002.........................................X
2003.........................................X
2004.........................................X


As I said, 2005 and 2006 are not part of the five-year bin statistics yet (but NASA does tell us that as individual years, 2005 and 2006 were warmer than average). However, is there a warming trend in the figures we can see already? Please decide for yourselves.

Ann