Reaping the whirlwind Extreme weather prompts unprecedented global warming alert 03 July 2003 In an astonishing announcement on global warming and extreme weather, the World Meteorological Organisation signalled last night that the world's weather is going haywire. In a startling report, the WMO, which normally produces detailed scientific reports and staid statistics at the year's end, highlighted record extremes in weather and climate occurring all over the world in recent weeks, from Switzerland's hottest-ever June to a record month for tornadoes in the United States - and linked them to climate change. The unprecedented warning takes its force and significance from the fact that it is not coming from Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, but from an impeccably respected UN organisation that is not given to hyperbole (though environmentalists will seize on it to claim that the direst warnings of climate change are being borne out). The Geneva-based body, to which the weather services of 185 countries contribute, takes the view that events this year in Europe, America and Asia are so remarkable that the world needs to be made aware of it immediately. The extreme weather it documents, such as record high and low temperatures, record rainfall and record storms in different parts of the world, is consistent with predictions of global warming. Supercomputer models show that, as the atmosphere warms, the climate not only becomes hotter but much more unstable. "Recent scientific assessments indicate that, as the global temperatures continue to warm due to climate change, the number and intensity of extreme events might increase," the WMO said, giving a striking series of examples. In southern France, record temperatures were recorded in June, rising above 40C in places - temperatures of 5C to 7C above the average. In Switzerland, it was the hottest June in at least 250 years, environmental historians said. In Geneva, since 29 May, daytime temperatures have not fallen below 25C, making it the hottest June recorded. In the United States, there were 562 May tornadoes, which caused 41 deaths. This set a record for any month. The previous record was 399 in June 1992. In India, this year's pre-monsoon heatwave brought peak temperatures of 45C - 2C to 5C above the norm. At least 1,400 people died in India due to the hot weather. In Sri Lanka, heavy rainfall from Tropical Cyclone 01B exacerbated wet conditions, resulting in flooding and landslides and killing at least 300 people. The infrastructure and economy of south-west Sri Lanka was heavily damaged. A reduction of 20-30 per cent is expected in the output of low-grown tea in the next three months. Last month was also the hottest in England and Wales since 1976, with average temperatures of 16C. The WMO said: "These record extreme events (high temperatures, low temperatures and high rainfall amounts and droughts) all go into calculating the monthly and annual averages, which, for temperatures, have been gradually increasing over the past 100 years. "New record extreme events occur every year somewhere in the globe, but in recent years the number of such extremes have been increasing. "According to recent climate-change scientific assessment reports of the joint WMO/United Nations Environmental Programme Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global average surface temperature has increased since 1861. Over the 20th century the increase has been around 0.6C. "New analyses of proxy data for the northern hemisphere indicate that the increase in temperature in the 20th century is likely to have been the largest in any century during the past 1,000 years." While the trend towards warmer temperatures has been uneven over the past century, the trend since 1976 is roughly three times that for the whole period. Global average land and sea surface temperatures in May 2003 were the second highest since records began in 1880. Considering land temperatures only, last May was the warmest on record. It is possible that 2003 will be the hottest year ever recorded. The 10 hottest years in the 143-year-old global temperature record have now all been since 1990, with the three hottest being 1998, 2002 and 2001. The unstable world of climate change has long been a prediction. Now, the WMO says, it is a reality. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=421166
Unfortunately, the UN has lost so much credibility, that there is no such thing as "an impeccably respectable" UN body. We all know how politicized these weather issues have become. Creating a scary "crisis" has become a standard ploy to galvanize action on an issue that otherwise no one is interested in. That doesn't mean no action is warranted, only that we should proceed carefully and not in response to some UN-generated crisis.
those types of pronouncements always crack me up--- weather going haywire--- the entire documented weather history is probably no more than 2-3 hundred years at best--who knows what happened before we had instruments everywhere measuring....... best, surfer
True, nor is there an "impeccably respectable" administration in the United States that is beyond reasonable doubt. Such is life when every institution and organization has demonstrated that they are not above the lure of easy money and the corruptibility that comes from unfettered power. The facts are clear, as much as we have data on temperatures and weather patterns. What it means, and what is the cause is of course the subject of scientific debate. I read recently an article that blamed warming on the sun, and not on greenhouse gasses, but this suggests that there is no relationship between the earth and the sun, that the sun is not impacted by what happens on the earth to any degree. It is common knowledge that there is an equal and opposite reaction to every action, so it is certainly possible that our ecosystem is not only dependent on the sun, but in fact impacts the sun in ways we don't understand. I don't know have the answer or know if global warming is a natural phenomena of late, although I do find it amusing that nearly everyone agrees that the principle of "garbage in garbage out" applies to closed environmental systems, the human body, etc., but thinks that we can pollute our environment forever without any consequences.
RIGHT ON! I agree with you. They tell me most of Florida will be underwater in 800 years....is this something I should worry about? It is all bunk anyway.
I can't speak for the rest of the country, but the weather here in Baltimore, MD is getting more and more chaotic. We got rained out in May (with only 2 days of clouds with occasional sun). Otherwise it is amazingly hot for early July. We suffered massive droughts in Frederick, MD and this year that county got more rain than it ever has. Something is definately amiss. The weather over the pass decade has gradually gotten more out of control in my opinion. At least where I live.
Naw, Aphie won't get his ass kicked. We are very good at hiding where Bob can't find us. Key Weird here we come!
Lol. Americans are the ones doing more than anybody to destroy any credibility the UN ever had and then turn around and claim it has "lost credibility". Hilarious. Well, no surprise to see AAA toeing the party line on yet another issue. AAA and GOP, peaches and cream; some things were just made to go together. As an aside, subsitute 'US' for 'UN' and the above paragraph hits home a lot harder.