The warmest year on the record: 2006 was the warmest year on record in the U.S. Will 2007 be even hotter?

Did you think something was wacky about the weather last year? If so, you were right. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that a new weather record was set in 2006. It was the warmest year ever in the contiguous United States (all but Alaska and Hawaii). The average temperature was 55[degrees]F. That is 2.2[degrees] higher than the 20th-century average (see graph below). Globally, 2006 was the sixth-warmest year ever.

NOAA said that the high temperatures could be explained in part by El Nino, a tropical warming pattern that began affecting weather in August. NOAA also called global warming a "contributing factor" to the record-breaking warmth.

Until recently, President George W. Bush has not acknowledged global warming as a problem. But in last month's State of the Union address, Bush proposed increasing fuel-efficiency in cars and developing alternative fuels. Such measures, he said, would help meet "the serious challenge of global climate change."

An Established Trend

The warm weather of 2006 caused many problems. New England states suffered their worst flooding in 70 years. Western states had their harshest wildfire season ever. In December, unusually warm Arctic temperatures caused the U.S. Department of the Interior to recommend that polar bears be put on the threatened-species list.

Scientists say that the warm temperatures of 2006 are part of an established trend. The past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest on record. Milton Clark, an advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is one of many experts who consider this trend serious. "Global warming should not be left for future generations and their scientists to solve," Clark wrote recently. "This is our issue, and we must face it head-on."