Hot enough for ya last year?

Dear Friends:

From the live Science Blog:

2016 was the second hottest year for North America in more than 120 years of record keeping, government scientists announced on Monday, marking 20 above-average years in a row. Climate deniers claim that temperatures have halted their climb for the past twenty years, BUT THIS IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE!

(Matter of fact, climate deniers are just about the same as evolution deniers, and like my old daddy used to say: "Put them both in a burlap sack and then repeatedly whack it with a big stick ....., whoever you hit will be the right one!!!!)

Every state had a temperature ranking at least in the top seven, with two, Georgia and Alaska, recording their hottest year.

The announcement comes a week before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which released the U.S. data, and NASA are expected to announce that 2016 set the record for the hottest year globally. Both the global record and the U.S. near-record are largely attributable to greenhouse gas-driven warming of the planet.

Both records also come amid a shift in the tenor of the discussion on U.S. climate policy after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency. Trump, who has previously called climate change a "hoax," has chosen several cabinet nominees who reject the established science of climate change to cabinet positions; Senate confirmation hearings begin this week.

http://www.livescience.com/57430-2016-was-second-hottest-year.html