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Met Office: Global warming sceptics 'have heads in sand'
Recent chill just a blip, insist weather prophets
Opinion The UK Met Office climate change bureau has issued a stinging attack on the idea that recent falls in global temperature might mean that global warming is over or has been exaggerated.
"Anyone who thinks global warming has stopped has their head in the sand," said an unnamed Met Office spokesman in a statement released online today. The statement goes on angrily:
Global warming does not mean that each year will be warmer than the last, natural phenomena will mean that some years will be much warmer and others cooler. You only need to look at 1998 to see a record-breaking warm year caused by a very strong El Niño. In the last couple of years, the underlying warming is partially masked caused [sic] by a strong La Niña.
The average global temperature has actually fallen a bit for the last two years, which has caused warmosceptics to suggest that the overall temperature rise since 1990 has been made too much of. The Met Office, which has also today released a pdf brochure entitled Global warming goes on, says that the falls of the last two years are no more than a temporary blip. ®