Warmest year ever in 2% of the earth's surface;  global temperature steady 

So sad for the Warmists.  They at last have a lovely set of warming numbers for part of the USA but the globe is not co-operating.  The U.S. figures are just an isolated hotspot.  Below is the global record:

(Via meteorologist Joe Bastardi)

The British figures also talk of global temperature flatlining

What I have just said represents the latest data accurately but you would never guess it from the article below.  It wasn't even warmest in the whole of the USA:  Just in the contiguous states (2% of the globe).  Alaska was unusually cold.  

And the  new figures are deliberately preliminary, using only the most accessible data.  The final figures using all the data tend to be lower, low enough to make the year unexceptional.  The deception never stops

If you found yourself bundling up in scarves, hats, and long underwear less than usual last year, you weren't alone: 2012 was the warmest year on record in the contiguous United States, according to scientists with The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The average temperature for 2012 was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.2 degrees above normal and a full degree higher than the previous warmest year recorded -- 1998 -- NOAA said in its report Tuesday. All 48 states in the contiguous U.S. had above-average annual temperatures last year, including 19 that broke annual records, from Connecticut through Utah.

“We’re taking quite a large step,” said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, which has recorded temperatures in the contiguous U.S. for the past 118 years.

It was also a historic year for "extreme" weather, scientists with the federal agency said. With 11 disasters that surpassed $1 billion in losses, including Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Isaac, and tornadoes across the Great Plains, Texas, and the Southeast and Ohio Valley, NOAA said 2012 was second only to 1998 in the agency's "extreme" weather index.

A long-term warming trend for the U.S., combined with drought and a northerly jet stream, led to the record heat, explained Crouch. 

"During the winter season, the jet stream tended to stay further north of the U.S.-Canadian border, so that limited colder outbreaks in the country. It also limited precipitation. So that led to a warm and dry winter season, and that persisted through the spring," he said. 

"That warm and dry spring and winter laid the groundwork for the drought we had this summer... . When we have drought, it tends to drive daytime temperatures upward."

More HERE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).