Source here. (click on image to enlarge)
When looking at the temperature trends, it is clear that global warming has actually been missing for the last 15 years. This has definitely been the case of the continental U.S. as the graph on the left depicts.
This chart represents the 15 years (180 months), starting September 1, 1997 and ending August 31, 2011. Per the latest NOAA/NCDC U.S. temperature data records, the 12-month period ending Augut was the 6th coldest August-ending period for the last 15 years. In terms of a single month, August 2011 was the 2nd warmest since 1895 (August 1983 was the warmest.)
The per century cooling trend of this period, a minus 3.2°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.
For the 10-year period ending August 2011 (September 1, 2001 thru August 31, 2011 - 120 months), the cooling trend accelerates to a very significant minus 10.9°F per century rate - again, per the updated NOAA/NCDC temperature records.
Other modern temperature charts. Historical and fabrication-temperature charts.