2008 was not as hot

Meteorologists with the United Kingdom's weather service say the average global temperature this past year was about 57.7°F, the coolest this decade. Cooler water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, referred to as La Nina, kept the atmosphere a little cooler last year, they say.

But this little drop is not necessarily a sign that global warming is slowing down. "Absolutely not," said Dr. Peter Stott, from the UKMET office. "If we are going to understand climate change we need to look at long-term trends."

Even though last year was a little cooler than recent years, 2008 would still rank as the tenth hottest year on record. The hottest was 1998. The UKMET climate office uses satellite data, ground weather stations and buoys to calculate the global temperature.