Met Office figures show past 10 years warmest for 160 years

UK Met Office stats show the past 10 years have been the warmest in recorded history – 160 years, the Guardian reports.

1998 was the warmest year on record.

In a separate announcement, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in Geneva said that 2009 will be one of the 10 warmest individual years recorded. The provisional figure for warming during the year is 0.44C above the long-term average of 14C.

The Met Office data forms part of the HadCRUT record of global temperatures, used by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which reports to world governments. It has made public more 150 million temperature reading going back more than 100 years.

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