http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=421166

Reaping the Whirlwind
The Independent
Thursday 03 July 2003

Extreme weather prompts unprecedented global warming alert

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.

On 4 Jul 2003 02:07:30 -0700, (Michael
McNeil) wrote:



Bearing in mind who or rather what was in the White House when the UN
was set up, it is no suprise to find that this monument to imbeciles
is the most ineffectual peace keeping clod hopper one may imagine.

Uh, I suggest you look a little farther afield if you want to
find the imbeciles responsible. The WMO issued a press release.
Nothing more. Yes, it documented some interesting weather events, but
they were quite careful to tell a cautionary tale.

http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/Press695.doc

CNN pulled the same stunt yesterday as The Independent. Here's
the first paragraph from the WMO statement:

Record extremes in weather and climate events continue to occur around
the world. 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 World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) states in a press release issued
today.

Here's CNN:

Anecdotal evidence that the world's weather is getting wilder now has
a solid scientific basis in fact following a dramatic global
assessment from the World Meteorological Organization.

And now we have The Independent:

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.

There's a reason the media fail miserably doing news stories:
most of them are scientific illiterates. It shows too.

"Michael McNeil" wrote in message
om...
Bearing in mind who or rather what was in the White House when the UN
was set up, it is no suprise to find that this monument to imbeciles
is the most ineffectual peace keeping clod hopper one may imagine.

Was not one its first ratifications the colonialisation of Palastine
and the 60 years of war that that has brought? One only has to look at
comparatively recent events from Yugoslavia to Iraq for examples of
the negative impact the UN has had.

Now it want's us to believe that something magical has happened to
insolation?

Go away!

Learn how to spell, idiot. Or better yet, learn how to think.

Claire Gilbert

"David Ball" wrote in message
news
On 4 Jul 2003 02:07:30 -0700, (Michael
McNeil) wrote:

Uh, I suggest you look a little farther afield if you want to
find the imbeciles responsible. The WMO issued a press release.
Nothing more. Yes, it documented some interesting weather events, but
they were quite careful to tell a cautionary tale.

http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/Press695.doc


You and others MISS THE POINT. I don't know if you are inexperienced or
what, but if you know the WMO, you should know that "unprecedented" in the
Independent article refers to meteorologists and atmospheric scientists and
their professional organizations being exceedingly cautious in drawing
conclusions about the weather, and as the Independent article says, this is
not some staid, cautious, end of the year, report, but a special,
UNPRECEDENTED report.

Claire W. Gilbert, Ph.D.

"DESMODUS" wrote in message
...
Its the World Met office thats gone wonky not the weather ! Apparently
there
are plans to cut their budget so they feel the need to cobble together
some
******** to justify their existence -DESMODUS


It appears there is an infinite amount of denial among those who don't know
what's going on around them. Sigh.

Claire W. Gilbert, Ph.D.

On 04 Jul 2003 14:58:26 GMT, "Claire W. Gilbert"
wrote:


"David Ball" wrote in message
news
On 4 Jul 2003 02:07:30 -0700, (Michael
McNeil) wrote:

Uh, I suggest you look a little farther afield if you want to
find the imbeciles responsible. The WMO issued a press release.
Nothing more. Yes, it documented some interesting weather events, but
they were quite careful to tell a cautionary tale.

http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/Press695.doc


You and others MISS THE POINT. I don't know if you are inexperienced or
what, but if you know the WMO, you should know that "unprecedented" in the
Independent article refers to meteorologists and atmospheric scientists and
their professional organizations being exceedingly cautious in drawing
conclusions about the weather, and as the Independent article says, this is
not some staid, cautious, end of the year, report, but a special,
UNPRECEDENTED report.


LOL. Hardly. This is a press release, one of many that the WMO
issues every year. It documents some interesting weather and nothing
more. The WMO was quite careful to state that this MIGHT be an
indication of something. Did you see the word MIGHT in the news story?
I didn't either.
Let's also keep what the WMO had to say in some kind of
perspective, shall we? A heat-wave in India that had a high mortality
rate? How is that different from the heat-wave last year there? Or the
year before? Or the year before? Something that happens every year can
hardly be called unprecedented, now can it.
Yes, there were major tornado outbreaks in the US in May.
There was also a period of unprecedented calm weather in the 3rd week
of May when little or no severe weather occurred.
Have you seen any studies that have linked these extreme
events to climate change? I haven't, so getting your knickers in a
knot because of a press release by the WMO is hardly warrented, now is
it? If you have, you might want to let the WMO know, because they were
quite cautionary in what they had to say.

Its the World Met office thats gone wonky not the weather ! Apparently there
are plans to cut their budget so they feel the need to cobble together some
******** to justify their existence -DESMODUS

To mr. Desdomonus, to put it in your own language:

Yes, cut back any dollar from any meteo service! Stop all weather
forecasting which is coming from these unpatriotic UN loving scare
mongers!
But if you are then wrecked by a surprise hurricane or by a surprise
flash flood, don't moan. Then you just received what you deserve.

To all the other (hopefully more sensible) readers:

In my view often some exaggeration takes place in these sort of press
statements (although, if I compare them with what is common among
politicians - see the whole fuss about, non-existent, WMD's in Iraq -
they don't score too badly ...), but if you don't do that they won't
get publicized. So, I don't bother too much.

I hold the press in general in a not too high esteem. Their
scientific knowledge is often abysmal. I'd rather try to go on my
own judgement based on as complete information that I can get and then
try to get a proper picture without selective shopping. The latter is
often done by both greenhouse sceptics and some environmental NGO's.

My own view: http://www.euronet.nl/users/e_wesker/klimaat2.html

Mazzel & broge / kind regards, Evert Wesker
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
http://come.to/wesker (redirect URL, no adv's), or
http://www.euronet.nl/users/e_wesker/


On Fri, 4 Jul 2003 19:42:36 +0100, "DESMODUS"
wrote:

Its the World Met office thats gone wonky not the weather ! Apparently there
are plans to cut their budget so they feel the need to cobble together some
******** to justify their existence -DESMODUS

To mr. Desdomonus and some others in this thread with similar
statements: To put it in your own language:

Yes, cut back any dollar from any meteo service! Stop all weather
forecasting which is coming from these unpatriotic UN loving scare
mongers!
But if you are then wrecked by a surprise hurricane or by a surprise
flash flood, don't moan. Then you just received what you deserve.

To all the other (hopefully more sensible) readers:

In my view often some exaggeration takes place in these sort of press
statements (although, if I compare them with what is common among
politicians - see the whole fuss about, non-existent, WMD's in Iraq -
they don't score too badly ...), but if you don't do that they won't
get publicized. So, I don't bother too much.

I hold the press in general in a not too high esteem. Their
scientific knowledge is often abysmal. I'd rather try to go on my
own judgement based on as complete information that I can get and then
try to get a proper picture without selective shopping. The latter is
often done by both greenhouse sceptics and some environmental NGO's.

My own view: http://www.euronet.nl/users/e_wesker/klimaat2.html

Mazzel & broge / kind regards, Evert Wesker
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
http://come.to/wesker (redirect URL, no adv's), or
http://www.euronet.nl/users/e_wesker/


On Fri, 4 Jul 2003 19:42:36 +0100, "DESMODUS"
wrote:

Its the World Met office thats gone wonky not the weather ! Apparently there
are plans to cut their budget so they feel the need to cobble together some
******** to justify their existence -DESMODUS

(Michael McNeil) wrote in message . com...
"Claire W. Gilbert" wrote in message ...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=421166

Reaping the Whirlwind
The Independent
Thursday 03 July 2003

Extreme weather prompts unprecedented global warming alert

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.

Bearing in mind who

Classic ad hominem garbage from right wing cretins (who mistake *that*
for an ad hominem).

or rather what was in the White House when the UN
was set up, it is no suprise to find that this monument to imbeciles
is the most ineffectual peace keeping clod hopper one may imagine.

We're talking about weather here, not "peace keeping", you imbecile.

Was not one its first ratifications the colonialisation of Palastine
and the 60 years of war that that has brought? One only has to look at
comparatively recent events from Yugoslavia to Iraq for examples of
the negative impact the UN has had.

Now it want's us to believe that something magical has happened to
insolation?

Well, something non-magical has happened to how it's spelled,
Mr. "among the stupidest people on the planet" McNeil.

Go away!

Indeed, you and your ignorant brethren can go away now -- the WMO report
blows you to smithereens.