Source here. (click on images to enlarge)
This chart represents the 15 years (180 months), starting March 1, 1997 and ending February 28, 2011. Per the NOAA/NCDC U.S. temperature data records, the 12-month period ending February 2011 was the 7th coldest February-ending period for the last 15 years. In terms of a single month, February 2011 was 51st coldest February in the past 117 years. In terms of winter periods (Dec-Jan-Feb) ending in February, the 2011 U.S. winter was the 39th coldest in the past 117 years.
The per century cooling trend of this period, a minus 1.9°F, took place in spite of the huge warmth produced by two large El Niño events during this 15-year span: 1997-1998 and 2009-2010.
At some point, U.S. continental warming will resume, but the extended decade-long plus global cooling trend persists, contradicting the experts. None of the IPCC climate models, nor "consensus" experts predicted this cooling trend for the continental U.S.
In addition, during the last 15 years ending February 2011, U.S. winter (Dec-Jan-Feb) precipitation has been declining at a -7.0 inches per century trend.
Most interestingly, the 2011 winter ending in February had the 16th lowest level of precipitation in 117 years of winters since 1895. This incontrovertible NOAA fact is in total contrast with the wild hype the mainstream media and political-agenda driven pundits asserted due to a few large winter 2010/2011 snowstorms that struck some regions of the country.
Note: Above temperature and precipitation trends are not predictions of future climate conditions.
Other modern-temperature charts.