The chart shows 2012 is
officially the hottest year on record for the United States. The Midwest and Great Plains was the hottest part of mainland USA and is consistent with the on-going drought in that region. 2012 was also the second most extreme weather year behind 1988, with
11 weather-related disasters that each cost the economy $1 billion or more in emergency and recovery costs and caused 349 deaths.
In the land of "No worries" it's even hotter! Hot hot is it? So hot the Australian Meteorological Service had to come up with a new color for its temperature charts:
The vivid purple in South Australia indicates a predicted temperature of 52 Celsius or 125 for Fahrenheit fans. Australia's previous record of 50.7 was set in January 1960. Wildfires are raging across New South Wales and Tasmania. Climate change is an undeniable factor in these extreme weather events. The European heatwave of 2003 that caused 32,000 premature deaths was made at least
two times more likely to occur by climate change. It was the hottest summer ever recorded in Europe with temperatures consistently above 100℉, and the Continent's biggest natural disaster since the Black Death. According to climate models that summer will be the "new normal" by 2040.
