Was 2007 Colder?

Jeff Jacoby had an interesting column in the Boston Globe. He noted that 2007 was supposed to be the hottest ever. Oops...

• It got really cold in South America with record cold in Brazil, the first snow in 89 years in Buenos Aires, the toughest winter in 50 years in Chile, and a state of emergency due to the cold in Peru.
• Australia recorded its coldest June ever.
• New Zealand recorded record lows in the spring.
• It snowed in Johannesburg, South Africa (first big snowfall in 25 years).

It was cold in the north too...

• New Hampshire recorded record snowfalls.
• The Canadian government is predicting the coldest winter in 15 years.

So what happened to the temperature in 2007? Overall, it's the same as 2006, which is the same as 2005, which is the same as 2004, which is the same as 2003, which is the same as 2002, which is the same as 2001. And yet, CO2 keeps going up.

What gives? Could it be that solar activity has more to do with global temperature than your SUV? Could it be that global warming stopped and global cooling set in?

Read Jacoby's Column