Environment Canada has quietly released its climate report for 2010, confirming that it was the hottest year on Canadian record books.

National temperatures exceeded average values by a whopping 3C, the warmest since record-keeping began in 1948.

“All of the country was above normal, with most of Nunavut and northern Quebec at least 4C above normal,” that highlights 2010’s northern heat wave on its map in red.

“An area over southern Alberta and Saskatchewan was the only part of Canada with close to normal temperatures this past year,”.

Higher temperatures have long been predicted as a result of the rising levels of emissions to the atmosphere.

Climate change models predict Canada — and the North in particular — could undergo some of the most pronounced warming on the planet if emissions are not slashed.

Monday’s report does say that Canada is warming. Of the 10 warmest years on record, four have occurred within the last decade, and 13 of the last 20 years are listed among the 20 warmest.

Add it all up and the average national temperatures been above normal since 1997.

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/11/temperatures-in-2010-hottest-on-record-books-report-says/#ixzz1Ak8BsKPI