July 15, 2012
Graph of the Day: Departure from Average of U.S. Temperature, June 2012
This time series shows the five warmest years that the contiguous U.S. has experienced, and how the year-to-date temperature evolved each month throughout those years. The time series also shows the 2012 year-to-date temperature through June, which was the warmest first half of any year on record for the lower 48. The year-to-date period of January – June was the warmest on record by an unusually large margin: 1.2°F.
Either there is a problem with the labelling of that graph or shifting baselines renders it meaningless. Compare 1998 to 2006, allegedly warmest to 2nd warmest, yet 2006 easily wins or (basically) ties every month.