We've had some remarkable strings of warmer-than-average weather in recent months and years. In 2001, we had several streaks of 20 days or more of above-average temperatures. Overall, ten months last year and 28 months in the previous three years were warmer-than-average.

On January 1, the National Weather Service updated its so-called "normals," the average daily and monthly temperature numbers that we use for comparison. In general, the new averages are higher than the old ones by a few degrees because the new values incorporate data from the relatively warm decade of the 1990s. This means that, all else being equal, above-average temperatures will tend to be a little less frequent in coming years simply because the averages themselves have gone up.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not predicting cooler weather ahead. Rather, I'm just recognizing that from now on, when we say temperatures are "above-average," it'll be slightly more meaningful simply because the averages include the warmer 1990s.