Many thanks for the comment Phil, but NOAA hasn’t retracted the story. In fact, NOAA’s press release states, “Much of the unusual warmth occurred over Asia, Australia, and Eastern Europe.” Furthermore, NOAA is measuring “combined global land and ocean surface average temperature.” As a result, some areas may be experiencing a colder October, while some areas have either experienced an average or above average October. The above average numbers may been high enough to offset the cooler areas. If you have further information, I’d like to see it. I’m not going to pull down the article just yet. According to NOAA (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081118_octobertemps.html):

* The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for October was 58.23 degrees F — 1.13 degrees F above the 20th century mean of 57.1 degrees F.

* Separately, the global land surface temperature was 50.72 degrees F — 2.02 degrees F above the 20th century mean of 48.7 degrees F, ranking as the warmest October on record. Much of the unusual warmth occurred over Asia, Australia, and Eastern Europe.

* The global ocean surface temperature of 61.41 degrees F tied October 2005 as sixth warmest on record and was 0.81 degree F above the 20th century mean of 60.6 degrees F.

* The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for January-October was 58.25 degrees F – 0.85 degree above the 20th century mean of 57.4 degrees F and ranking as the 9th warmest January-October on record.