It's getting hot in herre, even if it feels cold in herre

I don't know about you, but I've heard more than my fair share of righties spouting off this summer about "I guess this cold weather proves that fat Al Gore wrong, there clearly is no global warming." And it has been a very cool summer; July 2009 was the coldest July in recorded history. No doubt August was probably among the coldest as well.

So I guess this means that everything's just fine and we can stop worrying about global warming right? Not so fast, my friend.

The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest for any August on record, and the warmest on record averaged for any June-August (Northern Hemisphere summer/Southern Hemisphere winter) season according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. The preliminary analysis is based on records dating back to 1880.

NCDC scientists also reported that the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for August was second warmest on record, behind 1998. For the June-August 2009 season, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was third warmest on record.

I guess it's just another example of how some people don't understand the difference between weather and climate. Or between trends and outliers. Or between rational thought and knee-jerk reaction.