Some experts question if record-high temperatures in 2005 are a sign of global warming.

According to recent reports by the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, 2005 witnessed one of the largest record-breaking weather years in the last century.

It was the 12th warmest year in Illinois, said Illinois Climatologist Jim Angel.

Also, there are preliminary reports that 2005 may have been the world’s warmest year on record (1998 being the previous record), which dates back to the early 1800s.

The global temperature for the last century has risen about one degree Celsius and sea ice is recorded at an all time low.

Angel said people shouldn’t look at the global temperature and say it’s all due to a singular anomaly.

“Climate change can be broken down into two parts. One, the natural change or variability of the system; and two, human-induced change,” Angel said. “It’s nearly impossible to sort out the relative contributions of natural and human-induced change, but they are both there.”

One thing people should look out for is the large amount of development along the Gulf Coast. The past 40 years have been relatively dormant for hurricanes, but the nation is going to see trends in hurricane damage skyrocket as these developments continue, he said.

NIU staff meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste said another hit to New Orleans in the next couple years is likely. Historical trends suggest 2006’s hurricane season should not be as devastating as 2005.

More un-precedented weather news came from the mouth of Bill Nelson, observation program leader for NOAA’s National Weather Service in Chicago.

He said the December 2005 temperature at O’Hare Airport interestingly fell 4.1 degrees below the average to 23.3 degrees, and the January average temperature at Chicago’s Midway Airport was the warmest on record at 36.5 degrees. That’s about 14 degrees higher than average January temperatures for Midway.

Sebenste said there is no doubt the earth’s temperature is warming, but we won’t have sufficient justification for why until five to 10 years from now.

More than 5 million people in Malawi had their food sources jeopardized by the worst drought they’ve seen in a decade.

According to the WMO, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal received less than half of their normal precipitation from October 2004 to June 2005.

With high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds, Texas and Oklahoma broke old national wildfire records with 8.6 million acres burned through the month of December.

On the other hand, the monsoons of June to September across parts of southern and western India killed more than 1,800 and affected more than 20 million people with heavy rain and flooding.

Central America received its own thrashing from an unprecedented 26 tropical storms recorded in 2005. The only recorded tropical storm tally that comes close is 21 storms, recorded in 1933.

Pakistan and neighboring Kashmir were hit by a massive earthquake in October which killed about 87,000 people.