Hume falsely claims “huge problem” that "[t]here's been no apparent increase" in global temperatures since '98

From the November 30 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier:

HUME: The whole idea that the Earth is warming dangerously and that man, by burning carbon fuels, is the cause rests on computerized projections of future temperatures based on vast amounts of previously observed climate data. But there's a huge problem: There's been no apparent increase in global temperatures over the past 11 years and the computerized climate models failed to predict this and the global warming alarmists can't explain it.

Fact: Scientists, statisticians reject claim that recent temperatures are evidence that there is no warming

Scientists overwhelmingly reject the idea that recent temperatures are any indication that global warming is slowing or does not exist. In an October 26 article headlined, “AP IMPACT: Statisticians reject global cooling,” the Associate Press reported: “The recent Internet chatter about cooling led NOAA's climate data center to re-examine its temperature data. It found no cooling trend.” The article quoted Deke Arndt, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration climate monitoring chief, saying, “The last 10 years are the warmest 10-year period of the modern record. ... Even if you analyze the trend during that 10 years, the trend is actually positive, which means warming.” Media Matters for America has also documented that others, including scientists from the U.K. Met Office Hadley Center, the WMO, and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, have debunked claims that temperature variation since 1998 proves that global warming has stopped or reversed.

Fact: Claims about the pace of global warming require more than 10 years of data “since natural variations always occur on this timescale”

Scientists have identified a long-term warming trend that spans several decades. In a February 11 Guardian op-ed, Vicky Pope, the head of climate change advice at the U.K. Met Office Hadley Centre, explained that claims about the pace of global warming require more than 10 years of data, “since natural variations always occur on this timescale.” She continued: “1998 was a record-breaking warm year as long-term man-made warming combined with a naturally occurring strong El Niño. In contrast, 2008 was slightly cooler than previous years partly because of a La Niña. Despite this, it was still the 10th warmest on record.” According to the Met Office website, the UN World Meteorological Organization “requires the calculation of averages for consecutive periods of 30 years,” which was chosen “as a period long enough to eliminate year-to-year variations.”