WASHINGTON — The 2000-2009 decade was the warmest on record, easily surpassing the previous hottest decade — the 1990s — researchers said Tuesday in a report.
In 2009, global surface temperatures were 1.01 degree above average, which tied the year for the fifth warmest year on record, the National Climatic Data Center said. And that helped push the 2000-2009 decade to 0.96 degree above normal, which the agency said “shattered” the 1990s record value of 0.65 degree above normal.
The warmest year on record was 2005 at 1.11 degrees above normal.
In the United States last year the average temperature was 0.3 degrees above normal. It was the 18th wettest in 115 years of record keeping.
Last year, seasonal snowfall records were set for Spokane even though it was the 10th consecutive year of above-normal temperatures in the Northwest.
Arizona: New photos of baby cause police concern
Newly released photographs taken the last day a missing Arizona baby, 8 months, was seen show the boy as lethargic and holding what appears to be a medicine bottle. Tempe police Sgt. Steve Carbajal says the photos are from the camera of the Gabriel Johnson’s mother, 23-year-old Elizabeth Johnson. Elizabeth Johnson has been indicted on charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference. She has refused to say where the baby is since her Dec. 30 arrest in Florida.
N.Y.: Mother in pet torture case hit with new charges
A Garden City woman accused of forcing her children to torture household pets and burying dozens of animals in her backyard has been indicted on charges of child endangerment, animal cruelty and animal torture, according to court records released Tuesday. Sharon McDonough, 43, was arrested in November after authorities found five dogs and a cat found crammed into cages, covered in feces and urine, their coats matted with filth. Subsequent searches uncovered 42 animals buried in the back yard. Necropsies later determined that some of the animals’ mouths had been taped shut. Douglas McDonough, 21, who turned in his mother on Nov. 5, described the home as “a concentration camp for the animals.”
California: Siren near nuke plant called a false alarm
Authorities say a warning siren that went off near California’s San Onofre nuclear power plant was a malfunction. Gil Alexander of Southern California Edison says a siren went off around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday in San Clemente and continued for about 30 minutes before technicians shut it off..
Maryland: Man gets 5 years for bomb-making chemicals
A Maryland man accused of plotting to kill President Barack Obama has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison. Twenty-year-old Collin McKenzie-Gude pleaded guilty in September to possessing bomb-making chemicals. A former friend testified that McKenzie-Gude disliked Obama’s gun control positions and planned to assassinate the then-presidential candidate.
Iraq: Former Sunni militans are raking in government jobs
Nearly 50,000 Sunni fighters who sided with American forces against al-Qaida and other militants in Iraq — many of which are themselves former insurgents — are now in government jobs, a top Iraqi official said Tuesday in an attempt to soothe fears they would be neglected by the country’s Shiite leaders. The U.S. has been urging Iraq’s Shiite-led government to find jobs for the fighters to promote national unity and maintain security as American troops begin to leave the country.
From Herald news services
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