Vice President Al Gore cited new studies reporting high temperatures in the first five months of 1998 as "a reminder once again that global warming is real, and that unless we act, we can expect more extreme weather in the years ahead." But most climatologists attribute the record highs to the Pacific Ocean warming by El Niño, not to warmer weather on land. Gore responds that global warming is "making the effects of El Niño worse," but the May 28 issue of Nature noted that the El Niños of 1396, 1685-88, 1789-93, and 1877-79 "had effects at least as intense and wide-ranging as those associated with the current event. Meanwhile, scientists are warning of a secondary weather pattern called "La Niña" that may result in unseasonably cool Pacific Ocean currents for a little while.

[Ed.: Gore also made a statement that spring 1998 set a record for 122 tornado fatalities. The actual record was set in 1925, at 695 fatalities.]

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