One of the Coldest Februaries on Record

According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association, the agency charged with knowing such things, February 2007 in the U.S. was one of the coldest Februaries on record:

The average temperature in February 2007 was 32.9 F. This was -1.8 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 34th coolest February in 113 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.

Put another way, February 2007 was in the lowest 30th percentile when it comes to "warming." Or, in yet another way, the actual data for 2007 breaks away from the "warming" trend by a factor of 6 times, only in the opposite direction.

January was slightly warmer than normal in the US:

The average January temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 31.8°F (-0.1°C), or 0.9°F (0.5°C) above the 20th century average of 30.9°F based on preliminary data. In the central and eastern U.S., the pattern of spring-like temperatures that began late December, continued during the first two weeks of the year. For the month, 29 states were warmer than average east of the Mississippi River and in the northern High Plains. Alaska also was warmer than average at 0.9°F above the 1971-2000 mean.

So, on average, we are 0.9°F COLDER than normal (1.8 colder in Feb and .9 warmer in January is a cumulative difference of .9 in the colder direction).

What does all this mean? Not much. Just your normal seasonal variability. But I guarantee Al Gore won't be trumpeting it from his 200,000 kWh mansion.