DROUGHT, HEAT, WATER SHORTAGES, WILDFIRES

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"Dig the well before you are thirsty." - Chinese proverb

Photos, before and after, showing how the earth has changed and heated up.

"Scientists, especially astronomers, do not agree that human beings are causing global warming. The ice caps on the planet Mars are melting and there is other warming going on throughout the solar system."
New images of Mars suggest the red planet's surface is more active than previously thought. Deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near the planet's south pole have shrunk for three summers in a row. These changes suggest climate change is in progress. "To see new gullies and other changes in Mars surface features on a time span of a few years presents us with a more active, dynamic planet than many suspected." The newly released images also show boulder tracks at another site, which were not there two years ago.

U.S. Drought Monitor.

Crop failures, food shortages and fish die-off page.

2007 Climate change, drought, wildfires

2006 -
12/31/06 -
MINNESOTA - Much of northeastern Minnesota will finish 2006 in the grip of extreme drought, as a combination of a decade-long moisture deficit and an acute dry spell that began last May have sent water levels across the region to near record lows. The drought conditions have dropped Lake Superior’s level to a degree NOT SEEN SINCE THE 1920s. And without an increase in precipitation soon, the lake could break even that 80-year old record. Climatologists in the state are beginning to watch water levels on inland lakes and streams as well, since many are also experiencing LEVELS NOT SEEN IN DECADES. The region’s acute dry spell began in May, at a time when the area typically receives the bulk of its rainfall. Climate watchers dubbed the dry spell a “flash drought,” a term that suggests its sudden and intense onset. The conditions are reminiscent of 1976, the last time the area was hit with extreme and extended drought. “If we continue with little or no snow, we’re going to really have to watch things.” Winters in Minnesota are typically very dry, with less than an inch of precipitation per month on average. And this winter has been particularly dry and warm so far, which hasn’t helped the situation.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
12/31 -
U.S. - This year of weather extremes, from incessant rain in the Northwest to chronic drought in the heartland and wildfires in the West, could go down as the second-warmest on record when it ends. The first 11 months of 2006 already were the second-warmest January-to-November since national record-keeping began in 1895. "The warmth has been incredible." Last January was so warm that North America had the second-lowest amount of snow on the ground for that month. Only January 1981 had less. Several major cities broke records this year: •Seattle had the most rainfall in a single month in November, topping its 73-year-old record with 15.63 inches — about three times the city's average for the month. •New York broke a 59-year-old record when 26.9 inches of snow blanketed the city Feb. 11-12. •Phoenix had a record 143 straight days without measurable rain before a March 11 downpour. The wet weather in Washington and Oregon is UNUSUAL because an El Niño climate pattern now in place normally would make it drier. "This El Niño we've got going right now is ONE OF THE WEIRDEST ONES THAT I'VE SEEN. We should not be having the weather we're having."

OREGON - the year truly belonged to Mother Nature, from the long, hot summer that saw a rash of drownings, to the late fall storms that claimed the lives of families, fishermen and mountain climbers alike. The year was punctuated by flooding and mudslides, and high snowpack levels across the Cascade mountains - trouble for low-lying valley and coastal counties where rivers spilled over their natural borders. As December arrived, so did the winter weather, whipping up ocean waves that killed four crabbers trying to cross the bar at Gold Beach. The same storms trapped a San Francisco family for days in the mountains of Southern Oregon, where they kept their two young daughters alive on berries, crackers and breast milk, and burned their tires for precious warmth. Days later, three adventurous climbers were stranded atop Mount Hood, setting off a rescue operation that made international headlines. Both those stories ended tragically. The dead zone reappeared off the Oregon Coast last summer, spreading over an area larger than Rhode Island, lasting 17 weeks and leaving the ocean bottom littered with dead crabs, sea stars and sea anemones. The commercial salmon season was drastically curtailed in order to protect shrinking returns of wild chinook to the Klamath River in Northern California.

WISCONSIN - Between mild temperatures and next to no snow, it hasn't seemed like a typical Wisconsin winter. There was the first - and only - snowfall on Dec. 1 that dropped about four inches in Monroe and more than a foot in southeastern Wisconsin, but that snow was nearly gone a week later. And with the sun shining brightly, even the area's plants are confused. "Some plants may be fooled into thinking it's spring because of the abnormally warm weather." Some flowering plants have already begun blooming, which could pose problems come spring. "The arctic cold remains far away to the north of our state. Following a short, dramatic cold period to start the month, we have returned to the warm patterns of this past November. The outlook is for a warming trend and likelihood of above normal temperatures for the season," which, in meteorological terms, begins in December and runs through February. "A slight tendency for less precipitation is also predicted." Wisconsin isn't alone in having an abnormally warm winter this year. "The Netherlands is having the same problem." Over 400 species of plants have flowered there during the month of December.

NETHERLANDS - Weather records tumbled all over the world in 2006, and the Netherlands was no exception. But the difference lies in the fact that the Dutch have been keeping records longer than most, since 1706. 'A very unusual year,' the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute summed up on Friday as the year drew to a close. The first 300-YEAR RECORD was surpassed in July, when the average daily temperature hit 22.3 degrees Celsius, by comparison with the 17.4 degrees regarded as normal. The measuring station Westdorpe recorded a scorching - for the Netherlands - maximum of 37.1 degrees on July 19, BREAKING ALL PREVIOUS RECORDS. July was also extremely sunny, with 310 hours of sun recorded nationally, against a long-term average for the month of 201 hours. At the De Bilt national measuring station in the province of Utrecht, it was the SUNNIEST JULY SINCE 1904. A RECORD AMOUNT OF RAIN fell in August - although this time it was only of around 100 years' standing, as accurate measurements do not reach as far back as with temperature. The average of 184 millimetres that fell in the month smashed the previous record of 152 millimetres set in 1969. Farmers were unable to get harvesting machinery into waterlogged fields. September saw ANOTHER 300-year TEMPERATURE RECORD fall by the wayside. The average daily temperature came in at 17.9 degrees, compared with the normal 14.2 degrees. The ensuing autumn was the warmest - or 'softest' as the Dutch like to say - since 1706. The average daily temperature for September, October and November came in at 13.6 degrees, SMASHING THE PREVIOUS RECORD by more than one degree. The last 10 days of November were the WARMEST EVER RECORDED for that period. The year as a whole had been the WARMEST IN 300 YEARS, with an average of 11.2 degrees. The record was particularly noteworthy, as the first three months of the year had been colder than usual. And it pointed to perhaps the most alarming record of all. On November 1, as the worst storm of the year passed, a water level of 4.83 metres above Normal Amsterdam Level, was measured at Delfzijl on the far northern coast. 'A water level as high as this HAS NEVER BEFORE BEEN RECORDED."

12/29 -
An enormous ice shelf snapped off in the Arctic 16 months ago - An ancient ice shelf has cracked off northern Ellesmere Island, creating an enormous, 66-square-kilometre ice island and leaving a trail of icy blocks in its wake. In 10 years of working in the Arctic, one scientist said he had never seen such a dramatic collapse. "It really is incredible. It's like a cruise missile has come down and hit the ice shelf." The breakup was so powerful, earthquake monitors 250 kilometres away picked up the tremors as the 3,000 to 4,500 year-old shelf tore away from its fjord on Ellesmere. The scientists say they are only now releasing details after piecing together what occurred using seismic monitors and Canadian and U.S. satellites. They say the ice shelf collapse is THE BIGGEST IN CANADA IN 30 YEARS and is indicative of the transformation underway on Ellesmere, Canada's most northern landmass. It took less than an hour for the ice shelf to calve off in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005. The ice island is about 37 metres thick and measures roughly 15 kilometres by five kilometres. That's the size of a small city, or larger than 11,000 football fields. The island is now stuck in the winter ice, but the researchers believe it is just a matter of time before it is freed and floats away. They say the ice island could become a potential hazard to navigation and oil and gas extraction if it sails south towards the Beaufort Sea."We're seeing incredible changes." In 2002, Ellesmere's Ward Hunt Ice Shelf had cracked in half. The researchers have also seen the sudden collapse of ice dams and the draining of 30-kilometre-long lakes into the sea. (map / photo)

MISSOURI - This year's shipping season on the Missouri River was the WEAKEST IN 55 YEARS as low water levels forced companies to find other avenues for freight. The corps this year ended the shipping season 48 days early, missing the fall harvest. "This has been discouraging. It has been several years since we had an eight-month season." For years, rain and snow have been scarce in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, depleting northern reservoirs along the Missouri and preventing the corps from releasing more water downstream. In Kansas City, the river has hit RECORD LOWS, barely covering the city's drinking water intakes.

UNUSUAL WEATHER SEASON -
12/29 -
RUSSIA - This year Russia has registered the HIGHEST NUMBER OF UNFAVORABLE AND DANGEROUS NATURAL PHENOMENA IN THE HISTORY OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATION. Between January and November, 371 dangerous natural phenomena - including extreme cold, heat waves, strong winds and driving rains - were registered throughout Russia. "The year also ends unusually with the abnormally warm weather in late November and early December, when plants even began to bloom in some areas." Extreme deviations in weather patterns were observed before, but over the past decade they have become more and more frequent. Following near-record low temperatures during last winter's cold spell, which saw the mercury plummet to -31°C (-23.8°F) January 19 - one degree above the all-time low for Moscow - European Russia experienced RECORD WARM temperatures this month. But they said this year's unusually warm start of winter in Russia should not be associated with global warming. Rather, the reason for this year's UNUSUAL weather was a strong anticyclone over Greenland, which 'orchestrated' the weather over European Russia.

CHINA - Typhoons, floods and droughts have claimed 2,704 lives and inflicted economic losses of 212 billion yuan this year. "The losses China suffered this year were second only to those inflicted in 1998 when an extremely severe flood ravaged the country." This year, seven typhoons and seven strong tropical storms have hit the Chinese mainland, including Typhoon Saomai, the strongest typhoon to hit China since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, that claimed at least 460 lives. Both the intensity of the disaster weather and the damages caused were "RARE" in the country's history. This spring saw 18 sandstorms in northern China, a RECORD high since 2000 while in summer, the worst drought in a century ravaged Chongqing Municipality of northwestern China, leaving more than 17 million people with drinking water shortages. Sichuan Province was also stricken by its most severe drought since 1951. Northern China experienced its worst acid rain in 14 years this summer. In August, 80 percent of the rainy days in Beijing were "acid rain days". Since December, most parts of central and eastern China have been cloaked in thick fog which has triggered frequent road accidents and postponed flights.

CANADA - British Columbia suffered — and suffered and suffered — from the weather in 2006. "It was almost as if Nature had this area in its crosshairs." B.C. was very wet, excessively dry, battered by storms, snowed on and frozen, and in Vancouver, approached a record for the most consecutive rainy days. The consequences were dire, from a widespread and lengthy boil-water alert, to hundreds of thousands left without power, damage to hundreds of homes, trees down in Vancouver's Stanley Park, extensive wildfires and the depression that comes from 27 wet days in a row. In parts of the Prairies, hail events set a record, with 221 in total, compared to the 179 record set last year. Early November storms in B.C. brought so much rain, "every river in the Lower Mainland, the South Coast and the southern half of Vancouver Island rose close to or above flood stage." Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland residents suffered three storms in five days in mid-December, with violent winds leaving a record 250,000 without power.

12/28/06 -
Wildfires in California and other parts of the West may be linked to the surface temperature of the Atlantic Ocean, 3,000 or more miles to the east, according to a new tree-ring study. The conclusions indicate the wildfires may be getting worse. The new study links episodic fire outbreaks in the past five centuries with periods of warming sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic. "If the trend continues for the next 60 years or so as it has in the past, the degree of fire occurrence in the West could be UNPRECEDENTED compared to anything in recent memory."

AUSTRALIA - Fish species on the Great Barrier Reef are starving to death because climate change is killing off their food source, an environmental study has found.

SCOTLAND - Ski resorts have been forced to delay opening for the season after low snowfall and unseasonally high temperatures. Just as in Europe, many slopes in Scotland are still green, with mild temperatures set to continue into the new year. A decade ago, December was marked as the traditional start of the snow season for Highland skiers, but now it seems that mid-January, or even February, is set to be the new start date. "The winter season has essentially moved a month - autumn is going on a month longer than it was 10 years ago." "Many places in the Alps traditionally covered in snow at the moment are still green, with plants flowering."

AFGHANISTAN - While the eyes of the world are focused on the international military coalition's continuing struggle with the Taliban, Afghan children are dying because of a little reported drought which has hit huge areas of the country. The U.N. says 1.9 million people are at risk. Farmers lost between 80 and 100 percent of their crops in the worst affected areas and water sources in many villages had dried up. Not only is food scarce, but each day children as young as six are sent to collect water from taps or wells up to three hours away. Village elders say that droughts used to occur every 15 to 20 years, but the last drought finished just two years ago. They also say that winters are not as cold as they used to be and summers are hotter. Some experts attribute these changing weather patterns to climate change.

As much as half of Russia`s natural gas reserves are in danger because of climate change, experts say. Russia, the world`s largest natural gas exporter with some 30 percent of proven global reserves, handles the majority of imports to Europe. Russia`s gas fields lie below a several-hundred-feet deep layer of permanently frozen ground - permafrost. In western Siberia, entire pipeline systems are relying on the solidity of the year-round ice. Over the past 30 years, however, the mean temperature in western Siberia rose by 5.4 degrees, resulting in gradual melting of the ground. As that process is releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases (such as methane), the melting even speeds up climate change. The existing pipeline infrastructure would sink in the marsh, and even worse could happen: "The high-pressure oil and gas pipelines can explode. Roughly half of all Russian fields are affected."'

12/27 -
NEW ZEALAND - There's no doubt the crazy weather patterns had an impact on most New Zealanders in 2006. While the South Island's massive mid-winter snowstorm left a legacy, a seemingly relentless cycle of downpours, landslides and gales battered the rest of the country. This year it rained, and then it rained some more. Summer for some brought wind and rain in January and thunder in February. Then came the autumn, and more storms. Rainfall was at least 150% of normal in the far north and in the east. Winter in the Wairarapa saw roads turned into rivers and paddocks became ponds. In July, over 300 millimetres of rain fell there in 24 hours, closing more than 50 local roads. It kept on falling further north as well, as a winter of rain meant a season for slips. While houses fell off hillsides in the Hutt Valley, millions of tonnes of earth plunged into the valleys of Rangitikai, Manawatu, southern Taranaki. Bridges were out and communities cut off. Auckland and Christchurch had slips too, and so did the East Coast. In Wellington, big winds meant big swells in Cook Strait where some ferry crossings were rough and a couple atrocious. The summer has been a long time coming. For the first half of December, temperatures across the country were two degrees below average - and in Wellington, three degrees lower. And that makes it the COLDEST START TO CHRISTMAS IN THE CAPITAL SINCE RECORDS BEGAN.

CANADA - 2006 was a comfortable, although UNUSUAL weather year for Greater Sudbury. January was the warmest January on record, going back to 1952-53, a full 6 Celsius above the normals, especially when you look at night time lows. “Greater Sudbury got double its normal snow load in February but got only 10 centimetres of snow in March." Summer was hotter with nine days with above 30 C temperatures versus the normal six days. A devastating windstorm hit on Monday, July 17 and there were RECORD-SETTING warm temperatures this December.

12/26 -
CANADA - Ottawa's winters are becoming more unpredictable and dangerous, with warmer weather and more rain creating increasingly icy conditions in which "all hell can break loose." "Often it's not just rain or snow anymore. One single storm can bring it all - start as rain move to freezing rain, then ice pellets and then follow with snow. This creates difficult situations and dangerous conditions." "We're experiencing more and more ice storms as the years go by - trees falling, flooding, hydro wires falling." Between 2000 and 2006, the city has received an average of 173 millimetres of rain versus 204 centimetres of snow from Nov. 1 to March 31. Overall, that marks a nine-per-cent increase in rainfall and a 19-per-cent decrease in snowfall since the 1970s.

AUSTRALIA - Parts of Australia are in the grip of the worst drought in memory. Rainfall in many eastern and southern regions has been at near record lows. On top of that, the weather has been exceptionally warm. The parched conditions have sparked an emotional debate about global warming. Conservationists insist the "big dry" is almost certainly the result of climate change and warn that Australia is on the brink of environmental disaster. Other experts believe such hysteria is wildly misplaced and that the country shouldn't panic. The drought in Australia has lasted for more than five years. The worry for some is that this could be the start of a protracted period of low rainfall that could go on for decades. "The really scary thing is, last time we had a drought of this intensity that lasted about five years - it continued for about 50 years." "The politicians truly believe this is a five-year or six-year drought that will break sometime in 2007 or 2008. But it might not break until 2050." "We're in a state of emergency. We need to treat this as a war-like scenario. The people are really worried that we are going to run out of water. I can imagine Australia being a desert in a few decades' time in some of these agricultural areas. The soil is blowing away, the rivers are drying up. I think there will be plots of land abandoned and perhaps whole agricultural practices abandoned."

12/22/06 -
CANADA - Thursday marked the official beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, at precisely 7:22 p.m. ET. But for much of the country, it feels like spring, not winter. No big storm fronts are in sight, so if they don't have snow now, they're not going to get a white Christmas. Places like Quebec City and Thunder Bay, Ontario, "are going to see, for THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, a green Christmas." So will most of British Columbia, most of Central Canada and the Atlantic region. Montreal, which used to have a white Christmas four out of five years (80 per cent of the time), now gets snow two out of three years (65 per cent).
It’s the same story all across Europe - lack of snow. Many countries much more accustomed to snow at Christmas are basking in unseasonal temperatures. Terrified villagers in Chukotka, Russia, have reported worrying invasions of polar bears. The warm temperatures have moved ice drifts too far from the coast, preventing the animals from migrating further north. Even Siberia is milder than usual. Belarus has also started the Christmas season with unusually warm weather. Children are still able to pick daisies there. Lapland has only had rain and light snow this year. Iceland is struggling to live up to its name. The capital, Reykjavik, is forecast to be 10°C (50°F) over Christmas. And the ski slopes of Austria, Germany & Sweden are green. Skiing is off and snowboarders have become grassboarders in Sondrio, northern Italy, and it’s the same story at Chamrousse in France. You wouldn’t normally expect snow in Nice - but it is unusual to see bikini-clad locals on the beach. The sea water is warm at 17°C (62°F). Even across the Atlantic in New York, temperatures are expected to climb to 14°C (57°F) on Saturday — that’s ten degrees above the average. Bookies are so sceptical that a single snowflake will fall on London's weather centre on December 25 that they were offering odds at a whopping 16-1, the LONGEST THEY HAVE EVER OFFERED.
SPAIN - Bears in Spain have stopped hibernating for the winter — and the cause could be climate change. Many of the 130 bears in Spain's northern mountains who usually sleep through the cold season are still active because milder weather means they have enough nuts and berries to survive. "It's an indication of what's to come. Climate change is impacting on the natural world. Hitherto the warming seemed to be happening fastest at the Poles — now we're getting examples of it happening further south."
Animals that hibernate in winter are abandoning hibernation in yet another signal that something momentous is happening to the rhythms of the natural world. Hibernation has evolved for the same reason most animal behaviour has evolved - as a strategy to maximise survival. Some creatures that need a lot of energy to get around have learned to shut themselves down in winter, when the food to provide that energy is simply not available, or too much energy would be expended in searching for it. European brown bears in northern Spain are abandoning a survival strategy that has been successful. What if they give up hibernation because of rising winter temperatures, but then when they are active in winter, are unable to find enough food?
BRITAIN - They could hardly believe it when the first lamb of the season arrived this week. It was not what farmers expect in the middle of December. Usually the lambing season does not kick off until spring and the owner, who owns a farm near Hambledon, is convinced the climate is responsible for playing havoc with her sheep's hormones. 'Last year we had one on New Year's Eve but WE'VE NEVER HAD ONE AS EARLY AS THIS BEFORE. We've called her Tinsel...I think it's all to do with the climate changing. So much happened that we noticed was different last year. All the animals are confused.' She said her geese and turkeys have started laying eggs – whereas usually they start laying at Easter.
12/21 -
AUSTRALIA - Communities in Gippsland and Victoria's northeast are preparing for horror bushfire conditions tomorrow as a massive fire front rages towards them.
HEAT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
12/20 -
RUSSIA - is having its WARMEST DECEMBER IN 136 YEARS, since 1870, raising fears of serious economic consequences. At the end of last week, the mercury hovered just below nine degrees — 14 degrees above average for December. The weather has led to predictions of a dearth of grain, and psychiatrists are worried about people's fragile emotional states. "The current phenomenon we are experiencing is VERY RARE."
CANADA - Quebec City, for the FIRST TIME IN RECORDED WEATHER HISTORY, will not have any snow on the ground for Christmas. Overall winter in general is getting warmer with fewer snow-filled days. Average temperatures are breaking all the time. This week in Kenora the first day of winter is looking as though it might break a warm weather record. The warmest past temperature was recorded Dec. 21, 2003 with an average of 1.7C. This Thursday, the forecast is calling for a high of 3C, which will make it almost double that record, if what’s predicted comes through Kenora. Temperatures have been fairly normal to just above normal until this heat wave prediction, but said it’s a little UNUSUAL to jump almost 20C in a few days during normally chilly weather.
DELAWARE - RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES hit Downstate Monday. The National Weather Service reported record high temperatures of 71 degrees in Georgetown and 70 in Wilmington. The previous records for the date were 64 in Georgetown in 1992 and 66 in Wilmington in 1990. Experts attributed the recent unseasonably warm temperatures to warm, moist air from the Southeast. “That usually isn’t the case this time of year.”
SPAIN - This year is on track to be the WARMEST ON RECORD in Spain, a country which was already hot before global warming set in. So far this year, temperatures have been 1.46 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average as a searing summer gave way to mild autumn and winter. Experts warn global warming will be especially painful for Spain, and some have even forecast its southern beaches could become too hot for tourists later this century. Last year the country logged its driest year since records began and this December started with a few hardy daisies still to be found growing in Madrid parks where many trees have still to lose their leaves.
HEAT / WILDFIRES -
12/19 -
AUSTRALIA - There has been an upsurge in the number of animals killed wandering central Victoria roads looking for food and water. The RSPCA says road kill is spiralling out of control in the drought. Some wildlife hit by vehicles stay on the roadside for weeks and other animals are drawn to feed on the carcasses.
A blaze is on the doorstep of towns in Victoria's Gippsland region, while residents in the state's north-east are also on fire alert. The Gippsland bushfire is within one kilometre of properties in Walhalla and Maidentown, after slowly moving towards Maidentown over the past 24 hours. Helicopters have been brought in as back-up to crews on the ground. Embers are also falling at Rawson, to the south-west, but the fire is yet to cross the Thompson River. In north-east Victoria, fire is closing in on the Mount Buller area from the south, north and east. There is no end in sight to Victoria's fire crisis. "We don't anticipate getting a lot of rain in the change that comes through later this week, so we've got to continue putting in the containment lines to put this fire out and that may take us weeks." The fires have already burnt more than 688,000 hectares.
Fire photo gallery.
CANADA - 'This weather isn't normal'- Mercury hits 10C - again. That was the temperature recorded at 1 p.m. Sunday - about 13 degrees above normal for this time of year. Environment Canada meteorologists were poring over data to determine if the temperature in Montreal had, at some point, topped 10.5C - the record for a Dec. 17, which was set in 1984. On Thursday and Friday, TWO RECORDS WERE BROKEN when the temperature reached 10C and 11.8C, respectively. "It is UNUSUAL. Since the beginning of December, we've only had four or five days with temperatures below freezing." Weather conditions are more suited to Easter than Christmas.
12/18 -
AUSTRALIA - Campers have been evacuated from a national park in Western Australia's south today as fire crews battled a massive bushfire that threatens to double in size if it jumps containment lines. Lightning strikes yesterday ignited at least six fires in the Fitzgerald River National Park.
WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
12/15 -
AUSTRALIA - A volunteer firefighter has died and at least 20 homes have been destroyed as bush fires raged in southern Australia. In the island state of Tasmania, four homes were destroyed in the coastal resort of Four Mile Creek. Residents fled to the beach to escape what was described as a "large fireball". Firefighters are battling to save the small town, which has been completely cut off with fires burning right up to the sea, cutting off evacuation routes. Some 4,000 firefighters have been tackling at least a dozen wildfires, which have scorched vast areas of Victoria in south-east Australia recent days. Firefighters have also been tackling blazes in the neighbouring state of New South Wales. Fire officers say they hope the coming days of cooler weather will give them time to build containment lines around the blazes. "But there is a lot of work to be done as it will get hotter and more dangerous next week."
The world's top meteorologists have released their annual weather assessment, and it paints a dismal picture. The globe's sixth warmest year on record has produced widespread drought (Australia, US, China, Brazil and southern Africa.), interspersed with what they call 'radical variability', the October snowfall in southern Australia, for example. Europe had its warmest summer on record. Australia had its warmest spring on record. Canada experienced its warmest winter and warmest spring since its national records began in 1948. But despite the world getting hotter and dryer, there's concern that Australians are taking refuge in the notion that the drought is short-term. There's concern Australia is in denial. And critics say that governments are failing in their efforts to address water problems. Global mean temperatures are climbing. Rainfall is declining and Australia has had its hottest decade.
NORTH DAKOTA - Drought has taken a toll on the Souris River, affecting golf courses and area wildlife refuges. As of Dec. 11, Minot had recorded just 11 inches of precipitation for the year, compared to 18 inches on average. "The flow is zero right now. I don't think there's anything coming down at all. We really haven't had any flow all year." Officials say the river in Minot could freeze solid this winter, and that heavy snows are needed throughout the region to recharge reservoirs in the basin next spring and bring river levels up to normal. "We probably can't afford another spring without sufficient runoff, or we'll be in trouble next summer." Wildlife officials say the possibility exists for an extensive fish kill throughout the entire Souris River below Lake Darling this winter.
12/14 -
Experts puzzled by December weather anomaly in Russia - Weather forecasters have so far been unable to explain December's UNUSUAL warm spell, the head of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring said Wednesday. "Extreme deviations in weather patterns have been observed before, but over the past decade they have been more and more frequent," he said, adding it will take about 30 years to understand the anomalies. Four ALL-TIME HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS have been registered in Russia since the start of December. The number of weather phenomena dangerous both to humans and to the economy has been rising since the mid-1990s, at a rate of approximately 6% a year. The weather temperature has risen 1 degree Celsius (33 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past 10 years. "Our forecast for 2005-15 predicts that temperatures will continue to rise."
AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA - Thousands of Australian firefighters were on Wednesday battling to save three small towns from bushfires that have ravaged an area larger than Luxembourg and destroyed 18 homes. Australia is suffering its worst drought in recorded history which is drying out bushland, making vast tracts of the dry continent a tinder box. The country's annual fire season usually starts early in the new year but this year the flames have come really early, an ominous omen for the months ahead. A thick pall of brown smoke from the fires hung over Melbourne, cutting visibility to four times worse than normal and sparking a poor air quality alert from the Environmental Protection Authority.
WEIRD WEATHER - Scientists say 2006 may have been the year when the public at large finally embraced the idea that the Earth's climate is, indeed, warming. In the end, it may not have been the pronouncements of scientists and policymakers that ultimately proved convincing, but something more tangible and immediate: the weird weather. "Climate change is this slow, gradual change in the climate, and people [behave] much like a frog who is put in warm water that is slowly turned up and doesn't jump out in time before it gets too hot...we believe that we have probably already put enough increased greenhouse-gas concentrations into the atmosphere to sort of lock in several more decades of climate change, several more decades of global warming, several more decades - in fact, at least a century or more - of increases in sea level." Driving the sense of urgency among some scientists is the fact that climate changes can be observed taking place much more quickly today than had been predicted. "Some of us believe that we are seeing now a change that the [scientific] models told us should not happen for another 50 years." Scientists predict that if the Greenland ice sheet were to melt, sea levels would rise by about 5-6 meters globally, inundating several of the world's largest cities. Climate change will not create winners and losers - just "big losers and smaller losers."
EUROPE - the average temperature for 2006 was almost certainly the HIGHEST EVER SEEN IN 347 YEARS of measurements. The average temperature for the year up to 13 December stands at 10.84C. In the 1950s, the CET showed an average of about 9.4C. "This year sees the highest average temperature recorded since the CET series began in 1659, and the rise above the average is significantly higher than that for the two hottest years we have experienced." Among the OTHER RECORDS set were:
the warmest ever April to October growing season, with a mean temperature of 14.6C
the warmest month on record - July, which saw a mean temperature of 19.7C
the warmest ever September, with an average of 16.8C
the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK during July - 36.5C, at Wisley
the warmest ever autumn, with a mean temperature of 12.6C
the highest July temperature ever recorded in Wales - 34.6C at Gogerddan
even though temperatures were cooled in the first half of the year by La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The top 10 warmest years recorded globally have all occurred during the last 12 years.
12/13 -
AUSTRALIA - Dozens of wildfires burning Tuesday across southern Australia destroyed more than a dozen homes and a popular ski lodge, while residents in the western city of Perth were urged to flee an approaching blaze. More than 3,000 firefighters were working to contain the fires in four states, with the worst centred in Victoria and the island state of Tasmania.
Drought-stricken Australia should heed a warning from a new study that shows a series of massive droughts killed giant kangaroos and other "megafauna" in south-east Queensland 40,000 years ago. Understanding how the prehistoric big dry caused extinctions could help predict how and if animals battling current climate change will survive.
Shoppers are being warned that vegetable prices could rise by 30 per cent before Christmas, and even double in January, as the drought continues to hurt production. And it is not just the drought that is set to hurt prices. Fruit and vegetable growers in southern Queensland are counting the cost of devastating hail storms which swept through the region late yesterday. While up to 90 millimetres of rain was recorded in gauges on the Darling Downs, the hail has left a multi-million dollar damage bill. Growers have reported damage to crops of cabbages, strawberries, plums, table grapes, tomatoes, mangoes and avocadoes and lettuce.
TASMANIA - Conditions continue to deteriorate in Tasmania after RECORD LOW RAINFALL AND RIVER FLOWS. The State is experiencing ONE OF ITS WORST SEASONS IN 100 YEARS. While pockets of the State are having a reasonable year, the extended dry and heavy frosts are making the season tough. "We're looking at the ground now almost as if it is February here in Tasmania. We've had no spring, the winter was very dry and I don't think we can do anything else but call it a drought now."
TEXAS - Drought Having Major Impact On Lake Water Levels - it's been 42 years, since 1964, since Lake Travis has been this low in a December. Huge chunks of land have been exposed by water levels that just keep dropping. The lake's just below 644 feet right now. It's REALLY UNUSUAL to have it like this in a December, and it shows how tough this drought is. This is not the lowest Lake Travis has been in recent memory - in October 2000, it was about three feet lower than this, but it rose much higher in a couple of months after heavy rains. "It shows us that we have really missed out on our fall rain, not only this year, but last year as well, and that we're in the middle of a two-year drought that could go on even longer." And what hurts even more is that we are in an El Nino weather pattern, but we missed out on its usually heavy fall rain. "It's not only our area of the country. The whole country has sort of been flip-flopped in what we see in El Nino."
SWEDEN - One of the WARMEST DECEMBERS SINCE RECORDS STARTED being taken here has meant lots of rain in the south, rather than the usual snow.
12/12 -
The Arctic may be close to a tipping point that sees all-year-round ice disappear very rapidly in the next few decades, US scientists have warned. The latest data suggests the ice is no longer showing a robust recovery from the summer melt. Last month, the sea that was frozen covered an area that was two million sq km less than the historical average. "That's an area the size of Alaska." The sea ice reached its minimum extent this year on September 14, making 2006 the FOURTH LOWEST ON RECORD in 29 years of satellite record-keeping and just shy of the all time minimum of 2005. The Arctic may be free of all summer ice by as early as 2040. The ice system could be being weakened to such a degree by global warming that it soon accelerates its own decline.
CANADA - Environment Canada is warning people along New Brunswick's southeast coast to prepare for rising sea levels during the next few decades, thanks in part to climate change. A major report studying the last three years of storms along the Northumberland coast suggests flooding is becoming more frequent and episodes of high water will continue during the next several decades. During the past few years, major storm surges have hit communities including Barachois, Bouctouche and Cocagne. In the past, major flooding occurred every 50 to 100 years.
EUROPE - Alpine ski resorts are churning out artificial snow, daisies are flowering by the Kremlin in Moscow and retailers are fretting that Europeans are simply too warm to go Christmas shopping with a RECORD mild winter. Butterflies have been seen in Denmark, some Nordic golf courses - usually frozen for the winter - have reopened and many farmers worry that crops are sprouting far too early and could be killed by frost. One historian says that Europe has just had its warmest autumn in 500 years. In Russia, record December temperatures have kept bears from hibernating and flowers such as daisies and purple violets have been seen in and around the capital. Usually gripped by ice, Moscow basked at a record 7.7 Celsius (45.86F) on Dec. 7. In the Netherlands, the Dutch meteorological institute said 2006 was likely to be the warmest year in three centuries, and linked the record with global warming that many scientists fear will bring more floods, droughts and higher seas. German asthma sufferers are complaining of pollen and Sweden has suffered rare December floods. A report in science journal Nature this month said 2006 had the WARMEST AUTUMN SINCE COLUMBUS sailed the Atlantic, about 2C (3.6F) warmer than the long-term average. The autumn beat the record-warm autumns of 1772, 1938 and 2000.
MEGA-FIRES - Some scientists fear global warming could stoke ferocious wildland fires in parts of the world, disrupting fragile ecosystems and hampering efforts to protect communities. Recent studies linked rising temperatures to an upswing in widespread forest fires, particularly in the western United States, which has experienced an unusually high number of severe wildfires in recent decades. Future fires could drastically alter the land and convert vegetation from one type to another. That, in turn, could put native animals and plants at risk of extinction. Increased wildfires could also adversely affect the environment. When fires burn, they emit tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, contributing to planet-warming greenhouse gases. This past wildfire season in the U.S. was the most severe and expensive on record.
Climate change may be affecting space - In a signal of the wide-ranging impact of climate change, carbon dioxide emissions linked to global warming are cooling and shrinking the outermost atmosphere, where the international space station and other satellites orbit, scientists reported Monday. The thinning of the thermosphere, which begins about 60 miles above Earth and extends up to 400 miles, reduces the drag on orbiting spacecraft, keeping them airborne longer. The downside is that the lifetime of space junk is also extended, which can pose a threat to satellites. The air density of the outer atmosphere declined about 5 percent during the past three decades and could decrease 40 percent by the end of the century.
HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT-
12/10 -
AUSTRALIA - Melbourne has endured its HOTTEST DECEMBER DAY FOR 53 YEARS. The mercury soared to 42.1 degrees Celsius in Melbourne at 2.45pm (AEDT) today as bushfires raged across much of the state. That made it Melbourne's hottest December day since December 20, 1953, when the temperature also hit 42.1.
Erratic winds are wreaking havoc for firefighters south-west of Melbourne as they work to save homes threatened by fire.
The EPA, has RECORDED ONE IF ITS HIGHEST LEVELS OF SMOKE over Melbourne, higher than the levels caused by the infamous 2003 bushfires that burned out much of the state's north-east. "Clearly those in regional centres across the state are being inundated by high particle levels ... these levels are AMONG THE HIGHEST WE'VE RECORDED and thus far have certainly gone above those observed in the 2003 fires." Raging for 59 days, the 2003 fires burned more than 1.3 million hectares of land and 41 homes. This weekend's bushfires have so far burned out 214,000 hectares.
Smoky skies disrupted flights through the main airport in Australia's Victoria state Saturday, as firefighters battled what many fear will become the state's worst wildfires in almost 60 years. More than 20 towns were warned they could soon be threatened by the blazes, though no injuries or property damage had been reported. Heavy smoke across much of the eastern part of the southern state reduced visibility and triggered fire alarms in the airport's baggage handling area and control tower. More than 170,000 hectares (420,000 acres) of drought-stricken farmland and forests in mountainous terrain have been incinerated by 18 major fires, which threatened on Saturday to merge into a single super fire covering more than 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres). If the fires link up, they could produce a 60-mile wall of flames. "Given the scale of the fires we're looking at now and the severe drought we've had" conditions over the weekend could become Victoria's most dangerous since the "Black Friday" blazes that killed 71 people in 1939. "It's the WORST DROUGHT ON RECORD for Victoria."
Householders in New South Wales will face a sharp increase in meat prices if, as expected, the drought continues.
Wild camels are invading remote communities in the Australian deserts, demolishing buildings in a desperate attempt to find water amid the country’s severe drought. More than 200 camels invaded an Aboriginal community on the edge of the Gibson Desert, in Western Australia. The rampaging animals tore at air-conditioning units and smashed taps and lavatories to drink from fractured water pipes. More than one million camels are estimated to range across the central Australian arid zone.
HEAT / WILDFIRES -
12/6 -
AUSTRALIA - Firefighters in Victoria are readying themselves for what the Premier says will be ONE OF THEIR WORST WEEKENDS EVER FOR BUSHFIRES. Northly winds are expected to bring together smaller fires in the state's northeast and Gippsland regions at the weekend, creating a huge 600,000ha blaze. "The fires we're now facing will be threatening towns. The threats will escalate over the weekend. It's going to be one of our most difficult fire weekends ever in the history of this state. We're already fronting a very, very difficult fire but it's going to be made worse." Up to 50 fires have been burning in the northeast and Gippsland regions since lightning strikes last Friday. In a single weekend, the fire ground could expand to 600,000ha of forest and cleared land - half the devastation caused by the ENTIRE 2002-03 summer bushfires.
EUROPE - It is WARMER in Europe's Alpine region now THAN AT ANY TIME IN THE PAST 1,300 YEARS. From Ottawa, Canada to Moscow, Russia, temperatures generally have been way above average at the start of winter in the northern hemisphere, with flowers blooming on snow-starved slopes of Alpine ski resorts and bears struggling to hibernate.
12/5 -
AUSTRALIA'S drought will continue at least until March, the World Meteorological Organisation predicted yesterday as it revealed UNUSUALLY high sea temperatures in the Pacific. The tropical Pacific basin is in the grip of a drought-inducing El Nino climate event, with ocean temperatures already 1C to 1.5C higher than usual - and set to rise over summer. While the UN's weather bureau predicted an increase in oceanic temperatures, its computer modelling suggested they were not likely to rise much higher than 1.5C above normal temperatures between December and February. UNUSUAL and sometimes severe climate patterns are known to have occurred during El Nino events of the current magnitude. The WMO said the duration of this El Nino would depend on climatic developments in the Pacific between March and May next year. The worst-case scenario of El Nino conditions stretching 12-18 months, as happened in 1986-87, is unusual but cannot be ruled out. The drought in Australia has taken a distinct turn for the worst since August, with a near-total failure of the late-winter and spring rains. South Australia, southwest Queensland, southern Western Australia, and the tablelands and western slopes between the ACT and Dubbo, in central NSW, are in the grip of the WORST SPRING DROUGHT ON RECORD. It has also been remarkably warm over this period, with mean maximum temperatures being the HIGHEST ON RECORD (for the post-1950 era) averaged over Australia in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Murray-Darling Basin The water supply has been continuing to get more and more dire.
HEAT / DROUGHT -
12/4 -
MINNESOTA - Lake Superior's late-autumn water levels are at their LOWEST IN 80 YEARS, sparking concerns that the rapid fall of the world's largest freshwater lake could hurt shipping, shorelines and fish populations. The drop in levels is due mainly to six months of regional drought, experts say. But the affects could last years, and continued dry conditions could exacerbate problems further. Along the North Shore, the combination of receding lake water and lack of runoff has let sandbars form in the mouths of small feeder streams. That cuts off trout and salmons from their spawning beds and potentially reducing future populations. In the shipping business, a major economic force in Duluth and the region, lower water levels mean the freighters that carry iron ore, coal and limestone must take on lighter loads in order to navigate through locks, channels and harbors. At the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, some docks are now so high above water that they'll be fitted with extra guards next spring to keep boats from sliding under them. Lake Superior normally oscillates 1 foot in a normal year, and has varied 4 feet in more than a century of record-keeping. But this year, instead of rising through the spring and summer as has been customary, the lake plummeted from near normal levels last spring to almost a foot below normal in the fall - hitting its lowest level since November 1925. And it may not be done dropping. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicts the lake will drop another 3 inches in the next three weeks, and the Minnesota state climatologist thinks it will drop 5 inches or more by the end of February. The main cause is an extreme shortage of rainfall across the Lake Superior basin since May. "For it to go down that fast on Superior is a strong indicator that this is a very extreme drought." If the drought continues into next year, Lake Superior could drop to its lowest recorded level ever.

GLOBAL WARMING - Flowers are blooming on the slopes of Alpine ski resorts and bears are having trouble hibernating in Siberia amid a late start to winter that may be a portent of global warming. RARE December pollen is troubling asthma sufferers as far north as Scandinavia. From Ottawa to Moscow, temperatures have been way above average at the start of the winter in the northern hemisphere - with exceptions including a RARE snowstorm in Dallas, Texas. Like many places, Austria has had the MILDEST AUTUMN SINCE RECORDS BEGAN and many ski resorts have delayed the season's start. From Siberia to Estonia, bears have had trouble going to sleep for their winter hibernation because their hideaways are uncomfortably warm, soggy and damp. Renowned for frosty winters, Moscow started the calendar winter on Dec. 1 with the WARMEST DECEMBER DAY SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1879 - 4.5 degrees Celsius (40.1 Fahrenheit). Snows are also late in Rovaniemi near the Arctic Circle in Finland. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute said it would start measuring pollen - mainly from hazel trees - on Monday for the first time before the New Year.
HEAT / WILDFIRES -
12/3 -
AUSTRALIA - VICTORIANS are bracing for ONE OF THE WORST SUMMERS OF FIRES, as about 120 blazes ripped through bushland across the state. Most of the fires started from lightning strikes. There is grave concern about weather forecasted for Tuesday, which is expected to be hot, dry and windy.
HEAT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
12/1 -
GLOBAL WARMING - Canadian skiing star Thomas Grandi says snow-making equipment was barely used when he began skiing 15 years ago on the World Cup tour. In this era of global warming, he now wonders if the famous skiing tour known as the White Circus would still exist without it. It's a tenuous existence regardless, as races scheduled for next weekend in France and Switzerland have been cancelled due to lack of snow. The events planned for the following weekend are also in danger. After this week's races in North America, it's possible there won't be another World Cup alpine event before Christmas. The International Ski Federation has called the situation "critical," while American ski star Ted Ligety voiced fears this week that greenhouse gas emissions will eventually wipe out skiing. All the cross-country ski teams are training in the same place in Italy now because they couldn't find snow elsewhere in central Europe. At the only World Cup cross-country race held so far, at a town in Finland 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, it rained throughout the competition. A United Nations report released three years ago warned that downhill skiing could disappear completely at some resorts as early as 2030.
11/27 -
CHINA - November has been THE WARMEST ON RECORD FOR THE PAST 120 YEARS, with an average record high temperature of 23.6 degrees Celsius so far this month - 2.2 degrees higher than in November last year. The UNUSUAL WEATHER was attributed to the adverse effects of global warming.

UNITED KINGDOM - The nation's trees are facing a battering this weekend thanks to a combination of some of the hottest ever weather and 75mph winds. An unseasonably warm November could help make this year ONE OF THE HOTTEST SINCE RECORDS BEGAN, with temperatures in the south east due to peak at 13 degrees Friday. But UK trees have kept their foliage for longer than usual because of the heat - meaning they are particularly vulnerable to damage when predicted 75 mph gales hit the shores on Saturday. "This summer was one of the warmest on record, certainly in the top two or three, and we had a record breaking September and July. It's a continuation of winds coming from the south and south-west off a warm Atlantic that is keeping temperatures above average."
ARCTIC - Scientists are peering into the clouds near the top of the world, trying to solve the mystery is the droplets of water in the clouds. With the North Pole just 685 miles away, they should be frozen, yet more of them are liquid than anyone expected. Liquid water has even been detected in clouds at temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 F). Water clouds are more likely to warm the Arctic atmosphere than ice clouds, since the liquid clouds retain more heat radiated by the Earth's surface. "In the old days, we used to have 10 months of winter; now it's six. Every year we're getting winter later and later." Studies show that average winter temperatures have increased as much as 7 degrees in the Arctic over the last 50 years. The permafrost - ground that is continually frozen for at least two years - is thawing, imperiling polar bears and forcing other animals to migrate farther north. Climate change is cyclical - the planet's vegetation, over millions of years, sucks in and spits out carbon dioxide. "All the carbon dioxide in the coal and oil was once in the air. The plants took it and it went into the oceans or into the ground - and now we're taking it back out. The cycle is the same today, only you're taking something that took 100,000 years and doing it in one hundred years."
"Climate change threatens to intensify water insecurity on an unparalleled scale." Glaciers are often a crucial store of fresh water. During the dry season they are often the only source of water. A study in 2002 showed Kilimanjaro to have lost more than 80 percent of its ice cap in the past 100 years, reducing water supplies to people living around it. Climate change is melting a legendary ice field in equatorial Africa and may soon thaw it out completely, threatening fresh water supplies to hundreds of thousands of people. The fabled, snow-capped Rwenzori mountains - dubbed the "Mountains of the Moon" - form part of the Uganda/Democratic Republic of the Congo border. They have already decreased by 60 percent since 1910.
11/18 -
AUSTRALIA - Queensland is experiencing an UNUSUALLY LATE fire season. "Normally by now, the fire season is pretty much over because you start getting the humidity and the storms." But UNUSUAL WEATHER PATTERNS across the east coast have contributed to the atypical fire season.
The fires, however, were only one story in a day of harsh extremes Thursday – with thermometers hitting 40deg in the far north while snow-like sleet fell in the south. The snow, which fell on the Granite Belt district near the Queensland-NSW border, was described by forecasters as a ONCE IN 50 YEARS PHENOMENON FOR NOVEMBER. The last time snow or sleet was reported there was in 1941. The "VERY UNUSUAL" weather had been caused by a cold front which had travelled from Victoria. It was the same front which caused violent hail and thunderstorms in Queensland's southeast and snow in Victoria and Tasmania on Wednesday. "The storms formed ahead of the cold front and now the cold front's coming through with very, very cold air. It happens, but not very frequently. The atmosphere keeps on repeating itself for extreme events every 50 or 100 years or so." Sydney, meanwhile, recorded its LOWEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE IN NOVEMBER FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS – with the mercury dropping as low as 8C.
CLIMATE CHANGE-
11/15 -
The estimated cost of droughts, storm surges, hurricanes and floods reached a record $US 210 billion in 2005. Such losses linked to global warming are expected to double every 12 years. "This is an unequivocal statement by 15 of the largest financial institutions: Climate change is now certain." Losses from extreme weather could top $US 1 trillion in a single year by 2040. "Since so much development is taking place in coastal zones the figure may arrive considerably before 2040."
Climate change is to blame for health problems such as increasing epidemics of malaria and water-borne diseases in Africa, heat wave-related deaths in Europe, and the high incidence of cerebral-cardiovascular conditions in China. "The resurgence of disease outbreaks calls for better climate surveillance and response and better health planning in coping with natural disasters." Malaria has become a major health problem in the highlands of western Kenya where the disease had been rare, a phenomenon blamed on rising temperatures in the region. In the Americas, there has been a return of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, responsible for the transmission of yellow fever and Dengue fever. That type of mosquito had been almost wiped out in control programmes in the 1970s. New cases of malaria have also been reported in Turkey and Azerbaijan. There is also an increase of between five to 10 percent in the occurrence of the salmonella bacteria, the germ that causes typhoid fever and other foodborne illnesses, for every one-degree rise in weekly temperatures in Europe.
11/14 -
Rainwater harvesting could prove a cheap, easy solution to Africa's water woes, according to a UN report. Scientists found enough rain falls in some countries to supply six or seven times the current need, and provide security against future droughts. A pilot project in a Kenyan Maasai community has improved supplies and done away with the daily trek to collect river water. Last week, the Kenyan government announced plans to make all new buildings include capacity for rainwater collection and storage. Africa is seen as a dry continent, but overall, it actually has more water resources per capita than Europe. "However, much of Africa's rain comes in bursts, and is rapidly swept away or is never collected."
Nearly three quarters of all bird species in northeast Australia and more than a third in Europe could become extinct unless efforts to stop global warming are stepped up, according to a report by international environmental group WWF.
11/13 -
KENYA - Slow death by climate change for Kenya. The entire way of life of 3 million poor Kenyan livestock herders is now under threat due to climate change. In Northern Kenya droughts have increased in number fourfold in the past 25 years. So many animals have died that pastoralist families no longer have the means to support themselves. Already, half a million herders have been forced to settle around towns and villages – abandoning their centuries old way of life and dependent on aid handouts for survival. "Their plight illustrates what will happen to countless million other poor people...Governments and non-governmental organisations have hugely underestimated the seriousness of the threat facing people living on marginal lands like northern Kenya. Piecemeal measures are no longer enough to tackle the profound challenges posed by climate change. Alternative livelihoods must be developed to allow these people to support themselves instead of subsisting on handouts."
If current trends continue one-third of the planet will be desert by the end of 2100. The system of nomadic pastoralism has, over the centuries, been able to cope with unpredictable weather patterns and regular drought but now has been brought by climate change to the point of utter extinction. While rain did come to the region for the first time in more than a year last month, it was too late for the makeshift roadside communities who no longer have animals to put out to pasture. The periods of rain have got shorter and the dry spells longer - changing the pattern of four seasons on which the pastoral communities depended. And while there were always droughts: 'Decade after decade it has been getting more severe. It has only been getting harder and harder and more and more serious.'
THAILAND - Landslides are certainly not a new phenomenon to Thailand, but they are becoming increasingly common and widespread here. There were reports of about 90 landslide incidents this year - ranging from small-scale physical events to large, devastating ones like in Uttaradit in May. 1,261 rain gauges and 1,504 warning sirens have been set up. The Ministry reports that there are 7,246 landslide risk areas, with somewhere between 4,077 and 2,283 of those considered to be high-risk. An awareness of changes in the environment can be critical in preventing landslide tragedy. In the past, natural indicators like unusually low-placed beehives (apparently, the bees' natural caution against a blustery rainy season), a sudden increase in the number of ants seen above ground (a natural reaction to saturated, landslide-primed soil) or the browning of water sources (an indication of debris from upstream) have been linked to landslides. Additionally villagers will often report, in hindsight, having heard strange noises of rock, soil and debris movement - or what was the slow-start of the landscape - coming from mountains. Because a landslide is a slow-starting phenomena, it is important to clue villagers in on these early warning signs. There is also a greater trend towards wacky and unpredictable weather patterns that in recent years has led to devastating drought in some places, and devastating floods in others.
HEAT / DROUGHT -
11/12 -
AUSTRALIA - Victoria is facing a sporting crisis, with drought threatening to kill weekend sport. Several amateur cricket and football competitions are under threat, while water sports clubs in country areas are on the decline. Lawn bowls and croquet, which need lush greens, face hurdles as drought conditions limit water use. Yachting, waterskiing and angling clubs in the region are also facing a rough patch. Melbourne's sporting grounds are experiencing a similar plight. "Rain is not falling anywhere in Melbourne." Rain-starved sports fields is a state-wide issue. "It is starting to have a significant impact."
11/10 -
CHINA - Visitors to the Shanghai Botanical Garden can currently glimpse chrysanthemums, orchids and osmanthus flowers in full bloom at the same time, which gardeners say is a VERY RARE event. The osmanthus flowers in the garden on Monday went into bloom for the third time this year. "The normal flowering season for osmanthus is early and middle October, but this year's warm weather gives them more time to show up. Early November is the normal flowering season for orchids and chrysanthemums, thus the scene of three flowers blooming together is formed. "As far as I can remember, this is the first time for such a rare scene to appear in our garden."
11/9 -
COLORADO - RECORD HEAT across eastern Colorado on Wednesday. Denver set an ALL-TIME NOVEMBER HIGH of 80 degrees at 1:23 pm. Other locations with new record highs for the date include Pueblo at 85 degrees, which also set a new all-time record high. Colorado Springs reached 78 degrees Wednesday afternoon, tying the November all-time high temperature. The bubble of unseasonably warm air over eastern Colorado also extended into portions of the central plains, with widespread 80s over Kansas.
CALIFORNIA - Long Beach highs reached 92 degrees, SHATTERING THE RECORD of 87 degrees set in 1961. Several records were broken across Southern California on Tuesday, thanks to an offshore flow that created unseasonably warm weather. And Los Angeles reached 97 degrees, breaking 1956's record high of 91. Ten sites in Los Angeles County set temperature records on Tuesday, including Woodland Hills, which was the hottest spot in the nation at 101 degrees. The previous record in Woodland Hills for Nov. 7 was 94 degrees, set in 1956.
ICEBERGS -
11/8 -
NEW ZEALAND - The armada of more than 100 icebergs heading toward New Zealand would have come from an iceberg more than 100 kilometres wide and 1500 metres deep, scientists say. Experts believe a mammoth piece of ice broke off the Ross or Amery ice shelves in Antarctica. Crevasses within that piece then broke into smaller icebergs. The largest iceberg stretched two kilometres wide and about 130 metres high, and would extend 1000 metres beneath the sea. Icebergs have been breaking from the ice shelves for thousands of years, caused by stresses within the ice shelf. This could not be linked to global warming. "We've only been in Antarctica for the last 100 years, so it's very hard to say there's been any change." But it was RARE for them to reach this far north without melting. "It must have been a very large iceberg. I think it would have to be ONE OF THE LARGEST ICEBERGS THAT CARVED OFF AN ICE SHELF IN RECENT YEARS." At the moment, the icebergs are of such a size they could not drift close to the coast. If they broke up so they did not extend so deep in the water, they might drift to within 100 kilometres, and then could be seen from the mainland.

HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT -
11/8 -
AUSTRALIA suffering WORST DROUGHT IN A THOUSAND YEARS. Australia's blistering summer has only just begun but reservoir levels are dropping fast, crop forecasts have been slashed, and great swaths of the continent are entering "one in a thousand years drought". Many regions in their fifth year of drought. More than half of Australia's farmland is experiencing drought. The Murray-Darling river system, which receives 4% of Australia's water, but provides three-quarters of the water consumed nationally, was already 54% BELOW THE PREVIOUS RECORD MINIMUM. Last month it recorded its LOWEST EVER OCTOBER FLOWS. Many small rural towns in east Australia face shortages within a month. Last week, the government forecast its lowest wheat crop for 12 years, a 62% decrease on last year. "When the drought breaks we will not return to cooler, wetter conditions. It is the worst type of drought because we are not expecting to return back to the old regime. The last half of last century was much wetter. What we seem to have done is ... built Australia on the assumption that it was going to be wetter, and we haven't been prepared to make the change back to a much drier regime."
Water trading will begin between NSW and Victoria by the end of the week and all the eastern States by January of next year. "Water trading means we can assemble the small bits of water in the system into useful parcels. So people have to decide whether they can stay in irrigation or not in the short term and we can assemble those bits together. This is part of changing water use right across the River Murray system so that Australia can adjust. It's critical and it has to be done quickly."
11/6 -
Tsunami horror hits Britain - "This is the sort of headline we will all be reading in reality if nothing is done to prevent climate change." International attempts to cut the pollution that causes global warming have gone into reverse just as evidence mounts that it is putting the planet in grave danger, a startling official report will reveal. The findings by the United Nations will be presented to the world's governments today at the start of crucial negotiations about whether to tackle climate change seriously. They show that after reducing emissions during the 1990s, the world's richest countries have in fact increased by 2.4 percent since the start of the millennium. Even the reduction in the 1990s was overwhelmingly due to the economic collapse of the former Soviet bloc rather than deliberate anti-pollution measures in the West. The most optimistic possibility expected to come from the climate change conference is that slow but steady progress will continue to be made towards adopting new targets by 2008 (or perhaps 2009 to give a chance for a more sympathetic US president) so that they can be ratified worldwide by 2012. "Almost a year ago, at the last meeting of the parties to the treaty in Montreal, the U.S. tried to stop any negotiations on future targets. It was only when it was isolated and widely ridiculed that it gave way, eventually agreeing that talks should begin, if a year late. Everyone expects it to resume its obstructive tactics in Nairobi; it is sending no fewer than 27 negotiators to the meetings to try to disrupt things."
Likely future headlines -
2030: RIP - The Arctic polar bear breathes its last. Efforts at resettlement in the green bush of the former Canadian tundra have all failed. In any case, as the melting Greenland ice-sheet has flooded coastal areas, there is no spare land for them to settle on.
2040: Burned to death: How man reduced the mighty Amazon to ashes. The Amazon rainforest is dead. The fires that have raged for weeks in what was once the largest rainforest on Earth have all but consumed its last remnants. It is now extinct, and with it the stability it brought to the planet's climate.
2050: The last drops of rain fall to earth. World hunt for food as India faces starvation after monsoon fails and harvests are doomed. Global grain stocks are at less than two weeks, after persistent droughts in North America, and epidemics of disease that developed in the world's main genetically modified crops of rice and wheat.
2060: Tsunami horror hits Britain. Methane 'bubble' blamed for catastrophic seabed slide as wave wipes east coast off map. A vast landslip beneath the North Sea last night unleashed a tsunami that submerged much of eastern Scotland and sent a tidal wave down the east coast of England. Tens of thousands are missing, presumed dead. There are fears that when water recedes, wide areas will be buried in up to 18 feet of silt and rock. The death toll could be greater than the Boxing Day tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean 56 years ago. Current conditions are disturbingly similar to those in which the great methane releases of the past happened. Warming will cause more blowouts and more craters and more releases around the world.
11/6 -
NEW ZEALAND - A helicopter pilot who's spotted one of a group of about 100 icebergs drifting from Antarctica, says it's the FIRST TIME HE'S SEEN ONE SO FAR NORTH. The iceberg was seen several hundred kilometres south east of Invercargill on Saturday. He estimates it was 120 high and over half a kilometre long. It was drifting north. The location of the icebergs is less than 300km from the New Zealand coastline. The last reported iceberg sighting so close to New Zealand was off Dunedin in 1931. A marine navigation hazard warning has been issued because of their proximty to a shipping lane.

AUSTRALIA - Temperatures in NSW could jump more than 6C by 2070 and rain levels could fall by 40 per cent, according to climate-change research. Under a worst-case scenario, spring and summer days would be 7.1C warmer, while the spring rains would be down 60 per cent. There is already anecdotal evidence some ground crops, as well as apples and grapes, were ripening earlier as temperatures rose. There have been climate change-related reductions in rainfall in southwest Western Australia, "in the order of 10 to 20 per cent" since 1970. Southern Victoria is experiencing a 10-YEAR RECORD LOW RAINFALL. "Those are the only two regions where we are really in unknown territory. Most of the rest of the dry area in eastern Australia has seen similar conditions previously, although in a lot of cases not since the 1940s."
Ethiopia caught in dangerous cycle of drought and floods. Ethiopia, which was hit again by deadly floods this week, is caught in a devastating cycle of drought and heavy rains that threatens the survival of millions of people, experts say. Around 1.5 million farmers "require urgent humanitarian assistance as large numbers of livestock died, wells and boreholes dried up, malnutrition rates increased and disease became rampant." The latest flooding has been caused by a sudden rise in the level of the river Wabe Shebelle, swollen by heavy rains, whose depth had doubled at the end of last week. Flooding from the river had practically cut off the worst-affected towns of Kelafo and Musthail.
Climate change is a race against time. Many countries in the world are experiencing unusual weather events with temperate zones reporting heat wave conditions and the usually warmer nations suffering from more frequent (and hotter) heat waves. Not only floods but also droughts often accompany more rainfall in some other parts of the same country. More people are dying due to floods and droughts while food production conditions are undergoing big changes even as the toll from water-borne diseases continues to go up. The danger extends to the animal world also as climate changes will impact the natural habitat of many species. At present nearly 2 per cent of the land in the world faces extreme drought conditions; this area will increase five times by 2050. Sea levels in India, world’s seventh largest country, have registered an increase of about one centimetre every decade, raising the spectacle of most of the low-lying areas being inundated in less than 45 years from now. It will affect the wetlands and the beaches and increase the salinity in river waters. A worrying fact is that even if some drastic measures are taken now to control the gas emissions quickly, the ill effects of the emissions would remain for years, because part of the climate change system that includes large water and ice bodies will take hundreds of years to respond. Besides, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere do not dissolve at a fast pace. It is a race against time.
11/3 -
AZERBAIJAN - ABNORMAL warmer weather is forecasted to predominate in Azerbaijan till November 5. A north cyclone, which caused the death of a couple of people in some European countries and Turkey, will enter Azerbaijan’s territory beginning from November 5. Unstable weather is forecasted in the country after it.
AUSTRALIA'S water problems could become at least seven times worse unless climate change is tackled. If temperatures were allowed to continue rising at the current rate, Australia's water problems would become more severe and coastal cities would be threatened by large sea level rises. Global warming risks forcing the world into another depression on the scale of that of the 1930s.
HEAT / DROUGHT -
10/31 -
AUSTRALIA - Sydney has experienced its DRIEST OCTOBER IN FOUR YEARS because of the El Nino phenomenon, experts say.
A major dam supplying Melbourne has dipped to its LOWEST LEVEL EVER.
CLIMATE CHANGE -
Doomsday scenario paints a grim picture of what the world will look like only 50 years from now if politicians, industries and citizens alike across the world do not take action now to reverse the trend of climate change. According to a report, business as usual will in the worst case scenario cost the world up to 20 percent of the global economy, it will make at least 200 million people "climate change refugees" and will make around 40 percent of the globe's animals extinct. "Unless we act now the consequences – disastrous as they are – will be irreversible. It will not happen in "some science fiction future, but in our lifetime."
INDIA - For the past two decades, Arjun Jana has lived the life of an “environmental refugee” in Sagar island. He was forced to leave home in Lohachara island, one of the many islets on the Sundarban delta, when the surging sea waters swamped his farmland. Now 75, Jana’s migration to Sagar brought him to safer land. But it also made him poorer for the rest of his life. There’s no old-age allowance from the local administration for either Jana or his wife. And apart from a piece of land allotted to him years ago, and his thatched hut, the couple has nothing that they can call “ours”. “The sea had been eating away our island with every passing day. And then, one day, it engulfed everything that had remained untouched till then — our home, fields, the cattle… everything.” Sagar Colony, Bankim Nagar, Chakhaldubi — these are now home to most of these migrants. Farmers once, they are now petty labours, devoid of any civic amenity. Even drinking water is precious in these refugee colonies. Lack of opportunities, growing population and a consistent encroachment of the island by outsiders to set up hotels has meant further pressure. But what’s even more worrying is the unseen threat — ingression of salt waters that is slowly breaking down a dozen islands in the region. Sagar is one of them. “Their islands have vanished. There are many more, thousands of people, who will turn into environmental refugees in the next decade. Where will they all go when more islands go under water? To Sagar? To Kolkata? Nobody seems to have a solution.”
10/30 -
Reports predict a global warming deluge - The Netherlands, Bangladesh and several Pacific Islands could be underwater within 50 years and the environment of many countries, particularly Australia with the Great Barrier Reef, will simply be wrecked. "If you go ahead say 50 years, and we continue to emit CO2 at 2.5 to three parts per million, then essentially it's all over. When we hit 550 parts per million, that's when Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Pacific islands and large parts of large countries and many countries in the region are simply devastated...If we take the window of opportunity in the next 10 years, we can have a substantial impact and we can avoid the scientific outcome that is coming down the track."
A new report warns global warming will cost more than either world wars or the Great Depression. Leaked portions of the report warn that global warming could cost trillions of dollars to address. The report concluded that early action would be far cheaper than waiting until the full effects of climate change were felt. "Perhaps five, 10 or 20 times cheaper."
HEAT / WILDFIRES -
10/29 -
AUSTRALIA - Sydney's drinking water is under threat from a bushfire burning out of control close to Warragamba Dam. The fire in the Blue Mountains is expected to worsen in the next few days with the possibility of hot, windy weather set to hamper firefighting efforts. About 100 firefighters today were winched into a remote area five kilometres from Lake Burragorang, part of the Warragamba Dam catchment which supplies 80 per cent of the city's drinking water. The NSW Rural Fire Service says it fears debris and ash from the fire could clog the filtration system at the dam. The blaze started on Wednesday with a lightning strike and has burnt 3,000 hectares of bushland.
CLIMATE CHANGE -
Africa is the continent probably most vulnerable to climate change and the one that faces the greatest challenges to adapt to those changes. For millions of people in the Horn of Africa and the east of the continent, the success or failure of rains due over the next two months will be critical. The rains – or lack of them – will determine if 2007 will offer the prospect of recovery from the serious drought of 2005-06 or if it will be another year of desperately struggling to survive. Whatever happens to the rains, Africa is already undergoing big environmental changes. Although the climates of Africa have always been erratic, the latest scientific research, together with the on-the-ground experience of non-governmental agencies, indicates new and dangerous extremes, continual warming and more unpredictable weather patterns. “A huge gap is emerging between awareness of global warming and action to deal with it. We’re behaving like a group of people agreed that the building around us is on fire, but unwilling to reach for the alarm or the fire extinguisher. Africa’s precarious position on the front line of climate change reveals the complacency of rich countries whose greenhouse gas emissions keep rising and who have failed to deliver on even their current pitifully small promises of financial help. Waking up may be hard to do, but the alternative is having the house burn around us as we sleep.”
Mass movements of peoples across the world are likely to be one of the most dramatic effects of climate change in the coming century, a new study suggests. The spectre of hundreds of millions of environmental refugees is raised by the study, which says that the main cause will be climate-induced threats from water, or the lack of it – from droughts and water shortages, from flooding and storm surges, and from sea-level rise. There are already an estimated 25mn million environmental refugees around the world. Poor crop yields are forcing more and more Mexicans to risk death by illegally fleeing to the USA. One in five Brazilians born in the arid north-east of the country are moving to avoid drought. The spread of the Gobi desert, at a rate of 4,000 square miles a year, is forcing the populations of three provinces in China to abandon their homes. In Nigeria, 1,350 square miles of land are turning to desert each year. Farmers and herdsmen are being forced to move to the cities.
HEAT / WILDFIRES -
10/27 -
CALIFORNIA - A wind-driven wildfirenear Palm Springs engulfed a fire engine Thursday, killing four firefighters, and up to 400 people were trapped in a recreational vehicle park when flames blocked the only road out, officials said. The firefighters were trying to protect a house as hot Santa Ana winds drove flames through the desert hills northwest of Palm Springs and forced hundreds of people from their homes.
AUSTRALIA is unlikely to receive drought-breaking rain before autumn next year, according to the National Water Commission's latest outlook.
10/26 -
AUSTRIA - The temperature in Austria in general and Vienna in particular has been the WARMEST FOR THE PAST 35 YEARS. The temperature in Vienna is still above 20 degrees Celsius, which is ABNORMAL this time of the year. People are still sitting in open air cafes and public parks to make the best of this UNUSUALLY WARM weather. Meanwhile, the meteorological bureau predicted a continuation of this weather pattern and forecast temperatures close to 26 degrees Celsius by the end of the current month. "The usual temperature for this time of the year is around 10 degrees Celsius." Weather experts blame this unusually warm weather on warm wind blowing from South Western Europe, specifically from North Africa. Austria's weather was almost never above 30 degrees. But this year it broke the rule and went above 30 for quite some time, specifically in the village of Villach, where it reached 34 degrees on Sept 4. The weather for September was sometimes hotter than in August. Last year's weather also displayed some UNUSUAL thunder and lightning patterns, and devastating floods.
ENGLAND - Plants and flowers across Oxfordshire have been tricked into a second bloom as summery weather extends into the autumn months. Gardeners across the county are just as confused as the flora, with trees sprouting spring blossom and flowers such as roses and dahlias continuing to appear well beyond their expected season. "Normally everything's gone by now. The begonias have probably lasted six weeks longer this year." This is Oxfordshire's LONGEST SUMMER SINCE RECORDS BEGAN IN 1689, with record temperatures nationally in July and September. Meteorologists warned that fears about FREAK weather conditions caused by global warming could soon outstrip gardeners' delight at late-blooming plants.
10/25 -
AUSTRALIA - A fire that has raged for almost seven weeks is one of 30 burning throughout the Top End, making this year's BUSHFIRE SEASON ONE OF THE WORST ON RECORD. A senior fire control officer has not seen anything like it during his 17 years on the job, and says 2006 has been tough on the Northern Territory. "The fire weather has been especially extreme this season, the winds and the dry nature of the vegetation have created most of the problem. In the last five years we've had 12 to 15 extreme fire danger days and this year there has been 31."
10/19 -
CHINA - Shanghai citizens still waiting for autumn - As the middle of October passes, residents in China's biggest metropolis are still wearing sleeveless shirts as if it was August. And they are likely to continue for the time being, with meteorologists forecasting that Shanghai's temperature will remain UNUSUALLY high. "This year's weather is really VERY UNUSUAL." Normally autumn hits the city between the end of September and the beginning of October, but this year Shanghai has not yet entered the autumn season. Autumn comes only after the average highest temperature falls below 22 C for five consecutive days. But for the past week, the city's average daily highest temperature has stood at about 28 C. The average monthly temperature between June and August reached 28.7 C, the HIGHEST RECORDED since 1873, and a whole 2.7 degrees hotter than any other summer in the past 100 years. Due to the strong influence of subtropical high-pressure, cold air from North China was unable to reach Shanghai. The delayed autumn seems to be becoming more common, with the duration of autumn shrinking more and more because of the ever-growing impact of global warming. However experts believe that a sudden shift from summer to winter is not possible as the weather needs to go through a changing process. In addition to the high temperature, the city's summer was also marked by limited rainfall and arid conditions. In August, Shanghai received only 27.8mm of rain, 136.6mm less than the average for that time of year. September's rainfall of 86.1mm was 50 mm lower than the normal level. Shanghai is not unique in encountering the UNUSUAL autumn. Meteorologists said UNUSUALLY warm weather persisted throughout the country, with temperatures an average of 0.9 degrees higher.
10/18 -
CANADA - In most of British Columbia rivers throughout the province, except for the Kootenays and the Columbia basin, are showing low to extremely low levels. "We're having RECORD LOWS all the way down the Fraser. We have a long record for the both the Thompson and Fraser, and this is the lowest they've been since 1912." Poor snow conditions last winter led to the low water levels. The problem has a number of implications. "Fisheries is an obvious one. The sockeye run on the North Coast in August was expected to have 8 million fish. The last I head from DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) was they were having trouble finding any fish."The record lows could lead to well problems. Communities which take their water directly from a river before treatment are probably having trouble already. Agricultural operations have already been impacted by the low water levels.
AUSTRALIA - "On any measure, this is an extreme drought. Climate change has hit in a much more dramatic manner that what we ever anticipated." What we're actually experiencing now was predicted to happen in about 2050. Around the country the picture's the same - dams which historically provided nearly 99 per cent of the country's urban water have fallen to RECORD LOW LEVELS and there's less water coming in, prompting alarm in cities both big and small. We have about 16 months supply in our dams if we didn't get any further run-off. Even in good times Australian dams must capture roughly six times as much water as dams in Europe need for the same yield because of erratic rainfall and high evaporation. But these days the rain's hardly falling and virtually every urban centre has been experiencing a RECORD WATER SHORTAGE. There's a growing belief among scientists that rainfall across the south of the continent has moved south, leaving mainland dams dry while more rain falls on the ocean and Tasmania. And there's been a similar rainfall movement along the eastern seaboard. In the nation's fastest growing region, from Sydney to south east Queensland, rain is falling on the cities but not within the dam catchments.
10/17 -
AUSTRALIA - Livestock prices across NSW are in freefall, with farmers selling off RECORD numbers of sheep and cattle as the drought worsens.
Farmers are in despair as the drought sears the land - In some places the creeks have not flowed in a decade. The crippling effect of the fifth straight year of drought has some farmers shooting their animals. For others, the plight has become even more desperate and every four days officials record the suicide of another farmer. Food prices are set to rise because of plummeting production. Some farmers are asking whether farming across vast tracts of Australia has been wiped out for good by global warming. The country’s most productive grain growing belt — southern Western Australia — is drying out faster than any other place on Earth. “Everyone says it will turn around, but these dry years have been the norm for us for such a long time now." “The worst thing is that you start to wonder if it’s ever going to rain again. It’s going to affect every dinner table over summer. This is because for the first time in many generations we have a drought that’s virtually across the southern half of the continent.” Australia is the world’s driest inhabited continent; only Antarctica has less rainfall.
CHINA - More than 400 cites in China are suffering from acute water shortages and 110 of those have reached a crisis point.
UNITED KINGDOM - Britain now seems to have a fifth season bridging the gap between summer and autumn. The new season, created by global warming, has been dubbed “sort-of-autumn” or summertumn. All across Britain, temperatures continue to be much more like summer than the colder months before winter. The idyllic unseasonal weather is likely to be repeated in years to come, according to the Met Office. The Met Office considers autumn to start on September 1 rather than on the autumn equinox — which fell on the 23rd this year. But this September was the HOTTEST SINCE RECORDS BEGAN 234 years ago. “Maximum temperatures this month have been three to four degrees above average in places.” There have also been longer than average hours of sunshine. Last month the UK average was 170 hours — 17 per cent above normal.
10/13 -
AUSTRALIA - Hundreds of firefighters have battled blistering heat and strong winds as more than 250 fires broke out across Victoria today. By 4pm, 258 fires were burning as the mercury hit 36.5 degrees celsius in Melbourne - the HOTTEST OCTOBER DAY IN ALMOST 100 YEARS. The most severe fires are at Gippsland in the state's east, the only part of the state where a total fire ban has not been declared. "There's been very extreme fire behaviour today with fire height going to 10 metres and crowning (reaching tree tops)." "It's really unseasonal weather and is causing us considerable difficulty."
10/12 -
TASMANIA - Tasmania's south has been hit by sweltering temperatures and strong winds and there is a "NEAR-RECORD fire danger ... (and) conditions have not peaked".
EL NINO -
10/6 -
NASA satellite data indicates El Nino has returned to the tropical Pacific Ocean, although in a relatively weak condition that may not persist. NASA scientists say oceanographic data suggest this year's El Nino is much less intense than the last major El Nino episode that occurred in 1997-1998. During the past several weeks, satellites have observed a general warming of ocean temperatures and a rise in sea surface heights in the central and eastern Pacific along the equator - both indicators of El Nino development. "The present conditions indicate the intensity of this El Nino is too weak to have a major influence on current weather patterns."
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wEEK OF 10/10 -

DROUGHT -
AUSTRALIA - Melbourne's water storages are continuing to decline, with total levels falling in September for the FIRST TIME IN 36 YEARS.

HEAT -
This week scientists from the Hadley Centre, where a supercomputer is used to create future climate models, predicted that drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the Earth's surface by the year 2100 because of global warming. Extreme drought, in which agriculture is impossible, would affect about a third of the planet and devastate most of all those parts of the world already stricken by drought. By 2100 a third of the Earth may be devastated by hunger, thirst, war, migration and death.
SCOTLAND was put on red alert over climate change, with experts saying it was already responsible for placing endangered species at greater risk, for rising sea levels, major floods and landslides. And environmental watchdog the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency warned the situation was likely to worsen. The weather is expected to become more erratic, with increasing numbers of "extreme event" storms.
Changing climate - From floods to fires, drought to disease - Drought in British Columbia’s rain forest. Prairie rivers running dry. Storms leaving trails of multi-million-dollar damage in Eastern Canada.
Arctic saw near-record melt in 2006.
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Week of 10/2 -
WILDFIRES -
Mega-fires of the future - Australia - With a dry winter, high sea temperatures on the west and east coasts, less moisture in the soil and in the air, Australia's fire season came early. The prediction was for mid-November, six weeks before the normal fire season in southwest Western Australia. Fires started at the end of September. The critical factor in Tasmania is when they see fires burning overnight. Once they see that they know they are on the cusp of the fire season. "Fires for the past month have continued to burn overnight: that's UNUSUAL for this time of year. Bad bushfire seasons have been more frequent in recent years. It used to be that any given area in Australia would experience a particularly bad fire season every seven years; that has now become every three to four years. And every fire chief now fears the possibility of what has been dubbed the mega-fire. These are fires no human efforts can control.
"
DROUGHT -
INDONESIA - there is a prolonged dry in Indonesia - "Extremely dry, unbelievably dry. We have a wet and dry season, but we have not had rain here now for two months, which is VERY UNUSUAL for the wet season."
Drought becoming norm, experts say. The drought that's squeezing Arizona and the Colorado River - it could be the new normal. The warming temperatures that seem to start earlier and linger later - a shift in climate that already has stolen runoff in some parts of the Northwest. The natural snow pack reservoir is getting smaller and smaller. In the winter of 2005, we had the smallest snow pack on record. That's a real wake-up call for us that something is changing." An Australian scientist urged Americans to treat drought as constant rather than an emergency: In her country, "drought is no longer considered a disaster. We have one "of the most variable climates on earth. We really don't have a 'normal' climate. Therefore it's absurd to treat every drought as an emergency."

HEAT -
"People say there should be a debate about global warming. But I tell you the debate is over; the reckoning has begun. The truth is staring us in the face. Climate change is here, in our country; it is an issue for our generation as well as future generations; and those who deny it are the flat-earthers of the 21st century."
Climate change 'terror'in Australia - A new "terrifying" climate change report shows temperature change predictions for the state's coast have already grown by 0.3C in just three years. "No nation in the world will be more affected by global warming than Australia". A report predicts average temperatures in the south will increase up to 4.7C by 2070, up from the prediction of 4.4C as outlined in the 2003 report. Meanwhile, rainfall will decline by up to 35 per cent, up from predictions of 30 per cent in 2003. "This report demonstrates that the dry spells we are currently experiencing may become more frequent in the future, but that there may also be wet spells and an increase of flood and bushfires."
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Week of 9/26 -
The Earth's rapid warming has pushed temperatures to their HOTTEST LEVEL IN NEARLY 12,000 YEARS and within a hair's breadth of a million years. "Further global warming of 1 degree Celsius defines a critical level. If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable. During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably similar to today. But if further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know." The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when the sea level was estimated to have been about 25m higher than today.
CALIFORNIA is experiencing ONE OF ITS WORST WILDFIRE SEASONS IN A DECADE, and the most brutal part of the season - fall - has only just begun. Already, some 172,333 acres of land within CDF's jurisdiction have gone up in flame - more than triple the amount at this time last year. More than 386,768 acres in California's national forests have burned this year. "That's more than any other year in the past decade, with the exception of 1999, when 513,700 acres were lost in national forests - many of them in October. "The potential is there for more big fires in California this year."
SOUTH AUSTRALIA is coming out of THE DRIEST WINTER ON RECORD, leaving firefighters worried about the potential for wild scrub and forest blazes.
WILDFIRES -
Wildfires burn RECORD AMOUNT of US land - US acreage scorched by wildfires this year has reached a modern record of 8.8 million acres.
Tropical storm-force winds complicated firefighters' efforts to control two wildfires in Northern California.
RECORD WILDFIRES Ravage Mojave Desert - The deserts of Pike's Canyon in southern California's Mojave National Preserve had never had a recorded fire until this year.
Wildfires release 15 times more toxic mercury - New data suggest wildfires release 15 times more of the poisonous element into the air than previously thought, more than every US coal-fired power plant.

DROUGHT -
INDIA - Drought stalks Assam - The state has been hit hard by drought as a result of the MOST ERRATIC MONSOON IN OVER 100 YEARS.
Boulder scientist has grim drought forecast for Western U.S.
Investing in Water as World Shortage Approaches - Experts confirm a world water shortage is imminent.
World water shortages growing 20 years ahead of predictions.
Chinese capital facing water shortage - BEIJING, China's drought-prone capital, must curb its rapid population growth or risk running out of water.

HEAT -
Scientists say volcano gas could offset global warming for 20 years - Pumping volcanic gases into the stratosphere could offset global warming for 20 years, scientists have found.
US - SUMMER HEAT WAVE MAKES 2006 THE WARMEST ON RECORD.
UNITED KINGDOM - Why next summer could well be even longer and hotter- CO2 levels will continue to rise. This month is on track to become one of the hottest Septembers on record, July was the warmest month yet recorded in the UK, and the summer was the second hottest in England and Wales.
Dinosaurs survived rapid climate change - New research suggests the existence of periods of dramatic climate change during the Mesozoic Era, a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
HEAT / WILDFIRES -
9/24 -
AUSTRALIA - A man died, homes were destroyed and residents evacuated as bushfires fuelled by strong winds and high temperatures broke out across NSW today. Recent warnings by authorities that the fire season would start early and be severe were vindicated when blazes fanned by hot winds up 100kph spread quickly.
9/20 -
European scientists voiced shock yesterday as they viewed pictures which showed Arctic ice cover had disappeared so much last month that a ship could sail unhindered from Europe's most northerly outpost to the North Pole. Perennial sea ice – thick ice that is normally present year-round and is not affected by the Arctic summer – had disappeared in a huge area. "This situation is unlike anything observed in previous record low-ice seasons." In the last weeks since the pictures were taken, what was open water has begun to freeze, as the autumn air temperatures over the Arctic begin to fall.
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Week of 9/18 -
WILDFIRES -
CANADA - Hundreds of people have left their homes in "bone-dry" northwestern Ontario, where fire crews are struggling to control more than 300 fires burning in the region.
AUSTRALIA - 140 blazes which have been reported across Victoria. The state's bushfire season has arrived six weeks earlier than expected and the drought has not helped matters.

DROUGHT -
CHINA - Beijing is again facing drought despite two months of rainfall, and the situation is expected to get worse. Drought has returned to 44 per cent of the municipality, and the meteorologists say south-eastern Fangshan District and part of Daxing District are already experiencing serious drought. "The parched capital had largely escaped the worst drought in 50 years that has hit some areas. However, it returned immediately to drought conditions as rainfall over the past month is down by 80 per cent from the same period last year." Merely 50 to 90 millimetres of rain is forecast from September to November, less than the previous year.
Where is the food going to come from? - With drought in the US in North Dakota, South Dakota, all the way down to Oklahoma, and Texas, it's the worst drought since 1936 - record heat - stock dams that have never been dry before, a lot of them were dredged in the 30's and haven't been dry since then. Crops with zero bushels. This isn't just about money - after years of disasters it's about the future. If farmers go belly up where will our food come from?

HEAT -
Study clears Sun of climate change - The Sun's energy output has barely varied over the past 1000 years, according to a study that weakens claims that climate change is due to natural sunspot cycles.
Hungary to be hit hard by climate change - Global climate change will impact Hungary more than other countries of the European Union because it lies in a basin.
Starving seabirds hit by climate change? Reports of hundreds of dead or starving young seabirds around Scotland - including some many miles from the coast - and Northern Ireland are leading to speculation among experts that these incidents may be linked to climate change. Most of the casualties are guillemots – a type of seabird. Many of the birds are underweight and have empty stomachs, suggesting they are suffering from a chronic shortage of food. “Able to dive 300 feet for fish prey, guillemots are massively buffered against scarcity, so evidence of starvation signals a desperate lack of food. Food shortage has reared its ugly head in a number of guillemot colonies in recent years, but the breadth and scale of these reports of starving birds is more troubling.” Several guillemots have also been reported from HIGHLY UNUSUAL inland locations, presumably in a desperate attempt to find food.
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Week of 9/12 -
WILDFIRES -
The Association of Fire Ecology said climate change will limit humans' ability to manage wildland fire. “Under future drought and high heat scenarios fires may become larger more quickly and be more difficult to manage. Fire suppression costs may continue to increase, with decreasing effectiveness under extreme fire weather and fuel conditions. Extreme fire events are likely to occur more frequently.”
2006 fires already rate among Montana's most destructive - "We are seeing fire behavior in the past week that no one has ever seen before." Fires in Montana have burned more than 800,000 acres, destroyed more than 30 homes, racked up millions of dollars in bills and left portions of the state shaken by a reminder of one nature's most powerful forces. What's particularly UNUSUAL is that the largest fires have been east of the Continental Divide. The fire season has barely let up since the big blazes started in early July. This fire season has seen a ferocious combination of factors: seven years of drought, record-low moisture in trees and grasses, above-normal temperatures, plenty of lightning and blustery winds. "This is not a normal year by every measure." Large fires that once seemed abnormal are becoming more common in the West. "At one time, we had large fires going on in 10 of 11 geographic areas (in the West), which is unheard of." "It used to be we'd have a summer like this ... they called them one in 100-year events. Now we've had about five or six of these events in the last 20 years."
U.S. West on track for worst wildfire season in decades - There's no sign of a letup to the 2006 wildfire season — almost certain to claim more acres than any season in a half-century — and firefighters are stretched so thin that help has been flown in from New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Nearly 8.7 million acres already have burned, and an UNUSUAL string of late-season major fires still are charring land in Nevada, Idaho, Washington and Montana. "Our biggest season was last year (8.7 million acres) and I think we're going to surpass that in the next few days."
Growing Number of Wildfires May Pump Mercury Into Air - As wildfires grow in number and strength worldwide, they are unleashing mercury that has polluted wetlands in the north.
New wildfires in Spain and Portugal - New wildfires were raging Friday in northern Spain and Portugal, where hundreds of firefighters were battling flames.

DROUGHT -
Researchers say water shortage to hit 4 billion people by 2075. More than 4 billion people will face water shortages, with the current water shortage areas as core areas.
ALABAMA - this year's drought is "probably the WORST DROUGHT ON RECORD IN THE LAST 30-40 YEARS."
OKLAHOMA - Drought conditions WORST IN 50 YEARS. Despite some much-needed rain in recent days, Oklahoma remains locked in what climatologists say is the worst drought in a half-century.
MISSISSIPPI - Drought - Wildfires not the only problem - This year's drought has quite a grip on the state and its flora - the WORST MANY HAVE SEEN IN SIX YEARS.
MINNESOTA - Northern fire danger increases with continued drought - - Many trees and bushes already are turning color and dropping leaves in parts of northern Minnesota, and officials are thinking about drought and fire danger.
TURKEY - Power Outages to Follow if Drought Continues.
Uganda - Water Shortage Imminent - will experience severe water shortage due to continuous pressure on the water resources and the general degradation of the environment.
SPAIN - A drought could force rationing of water supplies to up to 2 million people in the southeastern region of Murcia if rains don't replenish reserves.
SPAIN suffering WORST DROUGHT FOR A DECADE. Spain’s flourishing agriculture sector is contributing to the country’s worst drought in a decade.
Portugal facing water shortage, It is not just the wealthier southern European countries that are beginning to enter into the grips of a water shortage.
China Faces Growing Water Shortage - The central authorities say China will face a critical water