This winter has seen other unusual events such as:
the January tornadoes in Wisconsin, [2]
the dozens of tornadoes in the Southeast after dozens of record highs were set, [3]
a storm in the Northeast with gusts to 128 mph dumped nearly 11 inches of rain in 24 hours, [4]
it snowed in Baghdad for the first time in anyones memory, [5]
the longest cold snap in China since records began after an unusually warm period where their Ice Festival had no ice,[6]
Australians are beginning to believe that their drought is here to stay,[7]
Alaska's Iditarod race had to move farther north to find snow,[8]
some cities are not making ice skating ponds because they don't freeze,[9]
Madison, Wis. has had over 80 inches of snow so far which is 14 inches more than ever recorded,[10]
the hurricane season which was extended to Nov. 30 several years ago, produced a rare Dec. Tropical Storm - Olga,[11]
Not one of these events can be directly linked to global warming of course. There simply is no proof to be had.
What can be said is what the climate scientists revealed......in the past 20 years the number of cat. 4 and 5 hurricanes has doubled, and 'climate disasters' have quadrupled.[12] That is 'climate change', and it is unquestionably due to the warming of the planet .... especially the oceans.
Also, in 1949 there was an unusual weather event that spawned a tornado in early February. Well, this month an unusual weather event caused reports of over 70 tornadoes in that region of the US. Unusual weather events are getting more unusual. This is quite literally the result of more energy in the atmosphere and the oceans.
For a list of unusual weather of the past two years, click on this link:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/362367.shtml
D. Beck
*************
References:
1] http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080214_coolwet.html
2] http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2008/01/17/0801160328.php
3] http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=news15
4] http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=webweather04m&date=20071204&query=weather
5] http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5huPkYk4bGVvo1Sa1tWeH-tgENiFw
6] http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=61512&sid=17581089&con_type=1
7] http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/this-drought-may-never-break/2008/01/03/1198949986473.html
8] http://campusprogress.org/newswire/2387/global-warming-turns-iditarod-route-to-mush
9] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/opinion/nyregionopinions/NJskate.html?_r=1&ref=nyregionopinions&oref=slogin
10] http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/272616
11] http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2007/ann/events.html
12] http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/briefingpapers/bp108_climate_change_alarm_0711
