when I read your comments I am reminded of that great 1966 classic “King of Hearts” starring Alan Bates And, I can take some comfort that you keep reminding me this all a movie and the bell tower clock has not struck midnight.

John McCormick

What is that? It should be 385 ppmv or 385 ml CO2/ cu meter for standard dry air. The absolute amount of CO2 for air at 15 deg C and 1 atm pressure with 1% abs. humidity is about 365 ml/cu meter. In the warm, humid tropics there is about 330 ml of CO2 /cu meter.

The quote is not from the WMO, it is intimated by the author of the article, Roger Harrabin:

El Nino warms the planet when it happens; La Nina cools it. This year, the Pacific is in the grip of a powerful La Nina.

It has contributed to torrential rains in Australia and to some of the coldest temperatures in memory in snow-bound parts of China.

Mr Jarraud told the BBC that the effect was likely to continue into the summer, depressing temperatures globally by a fraction of a degree.

This would mean that temperatures have not risen globally since 1998 when El Nino warmed the world.

But Mr Jarraud from the WMO countered that in the same article with:

But Mr Jarraud insisted this was not the case and noted that 2008 temperatures would still be well above average for the last 100 years.

“When you look at climate change you should not look at any particular year,” he said. “You should look at trends over a pretty long period and the trend of temperature globally is still very much indicative of warming.

“La Nina is part of what we call ‘variability’. There has always been and there will always be cooler and warmer years, but what is important for climate change is that the trend is up; the climate on average is warming even if there is a temporary cooling because of La Nina.”

I keep telling people this, but they don’t believe me: Most media outlets don’t give a flying fig about what’s true, except to the extent that they can call their “news” (as opposed to op-eds) accurate. Period.

The letters and editorials in the average US newspaper sound like the work of a bunch of psychopaths who have been locked up for anywhere from 20 to 50 years. Newspapers are getting crushed by the ‘net, so they’re pandering to their readers as much as possible, in a miserable attempt to hold on to their dwindling readership. Expecting them to turn down columns like the ones you (appropriately) rip apart would be like asking a teenage boy to pass up a chance to spend a night with a room full of porn stars–your intentions are admirable, but it just ain’t gonna happen.

Nothing special about climate here.