DECATUR — More Snow! I couldn’t believe it when I heard we were getting more snow on Monday, but big flakes came down outside my office.

Last week’s snow had me curled up on the sofa under a warm blanket reading seed catalogues and dreaming about muggy June evenings. Although I have to admit that I enjoyed watching the snow falling and had fun playing outside with the kids, I really don’t like to be cold.

After I wrote an editorial about global warming several weeks ago, I came across some interesting statistics. While the ice and snow this week may make us long for warmer temperatures, according to climate data they are already here.

The Associated Press recently reported that the 2000-2009 decade was the warmest on record. Previously, the 1990s were thehottest. According to the National Climate Data Center, 2009 was the fifth hottest year on record.

The National Climate Data Center’s 2009 climate milestones included:◊Tenth consecutive summer with above-average temperatures in the U.S. Northwest;

◊ Record winter drought in Texas;

◊ Deadliest February tornado in Oklahoma territory;

◊ Largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history;

◊ Most active tornado season in Louisiana and Alabama;

◊ New seasonal snowfall records for Spokane, Wash., and International Falls, Minn.;

◊ Worst deluge in decades in northern Brazil, affecting 186,000 people;

◊ Heavy rainfall in northern Argentina, causing a rainfall affecting 20,000 people;◊Disastrous floods triggered by heavy rain in Central Europe;

◊ Britain’s heaviest snowstorm since 1991;

◊ Extra-tropical storm Klaus (similar to a category 3 hurricane) killed 30 in France and Spain;

◊ Heaviest snowfall in northern China in 55 years;◊Typhoons battered the Philippines causing fatal flooding; and◊More than 600 died in the deadliest typhoon to hit Taiwan in five decades.

That sounds like a lot of extreme weather for one year, but the National Climate Data Center records climate events going back into the 19th Century in North America. For instance, the big freeze of 1899 set record low temperatures across the country that have yet to be broken, such as -2 degrees in Florida, -16 in Louisiana and -47 in Nebraska.

For more interesting weather related data, I recommend visiting the National Climate Data Center Web site.

Janelle Jessen is a staff writer for the Decatur Herald.She may be reached by email at janellej @ nwanews .com.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 02/10/2010