We may be living in it. The National Climatic Data Center recently released numbers showing that August 2012 was the fourth hottest recorded since 1880:
August 2012 marks the 36th consecutive August and 330th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-average August temperature was August 1976 and the last below-average temperature for any month was February 1985.
Brian Merchant finds the new stats remarkable:
If the world wasn't in the midst of humankind-induced global warming, you'd expect to see a mixed bag of monthly temps registering both above and below the 20th century average. But, of course, it is, and those 330 months are just some of the first small steps in the long march of global warming.
The Dish 