I have read lately in another blog, that 2005 was the hottest year, surpassing 1998. A little digging at GISS reveals the following “truths.” As the graphic below shows, 1998 was the hottest year in the GISS 2003 report. Then things get a little, shall we say, twisted.

GISS (read Hansen) did some recalculations to push the whole series down by almost 0.1C between 2003 and 2005, showing 2005 as the hottest year. Then between 2005 and 2007, the 2005 anomaly was pushed up by about 0.05C. Why these “adjustments” were necessary is a matter of debate elsewhere (Watt’s Up With That and Climate Audit for example) but such adjustments do raise questions about the veracity of the argument about “the hottest years.”