Earth still cooler than normal

The global temperature readings for August 2004 from the Earth System Science Center of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, based on satellite readings, show the recent trend of cooler than normal temperatures is continuing.

 The global composite temperature for August was 0.07C (about 0.13F) cooler than the twenty-year average for 1979-1998, caused mainly by a cool Southern hemisphere.  The Northern hemisphere was 0.09C warmer than the average.

UAHs Dr. John Christy said that the data showed that, For the continental U. S., August completed the coolest summer in a dozen years and the second coolest in the 26-year satellite record.  Moreover, the coolest summer, 1992, was a result of factors not present this summer.  That summer, said Dr. Christy, was cool due to the global shading from the Mount Pinatubo eruption.  This summer there isnt anything like that to pin it on.  It was just a cool summer.