Despite beginning the year with a chilling La Niña, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) advises that 2006 was the fifth-warmest year in recorded history and the hottest year in the U.S.

Check the attached graph and see if you buy the Dr. Bob Carter’s contention that global warming ended in 1998 (Carter is the Australian scientist who testified before U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in December – at a meeting that will be remembered as outgoing Republican chair Jim Inhofe‘s last gasp).

If you follow the NOAA link, you will also find some compelling graphs on temperature and precipitation anomalies: what the world’s weather looked like last year, compared to what we might have expected.

The deniers are fond of accusing scientists and environmentalists alike of being “alarmist” on the question of climate change. But it’s hard to look at this evidence and not be alarmed.