This winter has been the hottest the world has ever seen.If that seems like a hard claim to take seriously as states across the U.S. recover from record-breaking snowfalls over the past few months (we're still shoveling show here at the D.C. office!), you're not alone -- but, say some scientists, you might be suffering from perception bias. The Daily Express over in London observes that Britons, too, are stunned by the claim at an online climate change briefing:
The remarkable claim, based on global satellite data, follows Arctic temperatures that brought snow, ice and travel chaos to millions in the UK.
At the height of the big freeze, the entire country was blanketed in snow. But Australian weather expert Professor Neville Nicholls, of Monash University in Melbourne, said yesterday: "January, according to satellite data, was the hottest January we've ever seen.
"Last November was the hottest November we've ever seen. November-January as a whole is the hottest November-January the world has seen." Veteran climatologist Professor Nicholls was speaking at an online climate change briefing, added: "It's not warming the same everywhere but it is really quite challenging to find places that haven't warmed in the past 50 years."
