2005 warmest year in "several thousand years"
The year 2005 may have been the warmest year in a century, according to NASA scientists studying temperature data from around the world. In descending order, the years with the highest global average annual temperatures were 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004, NASA said in a statement. "It's fair to say that it probably is the warmest since we have modern meteorological records," said Drew Shindell of the NASA institute in New York City."Using indirect measurements that go back farther, I think it's even fair to say that it's the warmest in the last several thousand years.