2005 Is Shaping Up As the Worst for Extreme Weather

[Dravyk]

Report: 2005 Will Be Hottest, Stormiest

World Wildlife Fund Report Says 2005 Is Shaping Up As the Worst for Extreme Weather

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1380216

This year is likely to go down as the hottest, stormiest and driest ever, making a strong case for the urgent need to combat global warming, a report released Tuesday at the U.N. Climate Change Conference said.

The year 2005, the World Wildlife Fund said, is shaping up as the worst for extreme weather, with the hottest temperatures, most Arctic melting, worst Atlantic hurricane season and warmest Caribbean waters.

It's also been the driest year in decades in the Amazon, where a drought may surpass anything in the past century, said the report by international environmental group.

The report, using data from the U.S. government World Meteorological Organization, was released on the sidelines of the U.N. conference reviewing and upgrading the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that commits 35 industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions more than 5 percent by 2012. The United States has not signed on to the protocol.

Kyoto blames carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases for rising global temperatures and disrupted weather patterns. Many scientists believe if temperatures keep rising, extreme weather will continue to kill humans, disrupt lifestyles and make some animal species extinct.

Lara Hansen, chief scientist for WWF's Climate Change Program, said cyclical patterns alone cannot explain the number of hurricanes this year.

"What we're seeing now is even beyond what that cyclical nature would lead us to believe has happened," Hansen told the AP by telephone from Washington. She noted the National Hurricane Center failed to predict how many hurricanes there would be in 2005.

Last year, the center predicted 18 to 21 storms, but so many were recorded that the official naming of them exceeded the Roman alphabet and had to be supplemented with letters of the Greek alphabet.

Waters in the Caribbean were also hotter for longer, causing extensive bleaching from Colombia to the Florida Keys, she said.

In the north, the smallest area of Arctic sea ice ever was recorded in September 500,000 square miles smaller than the historic average and a 9.8 percent decline, per decade, of perennial sea ice cover, the report said.

[TheEnforcer]

I know it's been pretty consistently really fucking cold here in Wisconsin. The snow came much earlier than it has in the previous few years but it hasn't been a huge storm yet. 5 or 6" isn't that bad in one storm at all. Been cold as a mother fucker though. much colder than in recent years.

[Robin]

Because of the oil crisis in the '70s a serious effort was undertaken in the US to find alternate energy sources such as wind and solar. It looked really hopeful, but the crisis was over too quickly, followed by an era of the cheapest oil ever - which put a stop to all alternative energy funding.

If the investment and development had continued the US would have over 50% of it's power from renewable sources by now - unfortunately, though, it's less than 1% today.

Amazingly the US still refuses to sign any carbon emission reducing treaties. In fact I doubt that the US will *ever* do anything while there is still cheap oil (and at under $100 a barrel it is darned cheap for the power you get from it).

As the US govt has stated "The US way of life is non-negotiable". OK, fair enough, but forward planning would have kept the way of life and made the US less dependent on the Middle East to boot!

And now global warming means we'll need to burn more oil than ever to keep cool in summer and warm in winter. It's a vicious circle that will only end when the oil's gone.

[Dravyk]

You summed that up very well, Robin.

Likewise, after the famous Carter-era lines at the gas stations, there was this great sudden spur of innovation. And then, as you said, nothing.

I was a great proponent of ethenol. Two birds, one stone. Farmers wouldn't lose their farms, cheap fuel. So good a plan it never really happened. I say "was", because while I really am still for it, the hydro-hybrid, full-hydrogen and electric cars are all taking off at last. And the only thing I can think of better than dripping out a tail pipe than corn oil is water!

Btw, anyone have the time schedule for Mideastern oil depletion? Only one I know for sure is Bahrain runs out around 2016.