Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Secret Storms


It's barely mentioned by news collections but for a lot of people, it is the most important news: extreme weather. There's been a lot of it in the U.S. this winter, and it is continuing. Tornadoes in the Midwest (including suburban St. Louis, site of the photo), flooding in Ohio and Indiana, but drought-fed fires burning thousands of acres of trees etc., not in CA as we're used to, but in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. Storms in New York, huge February snowfalls in the Middle Atlantic states, cold and sleet in Chicago, high winds on the West Coast (including here.) And it's not over, as major storms are predicted for the Midwest and the Sierra Nevada in the West. Records in individual areas and cumulatively are being set.

Such extreme weather is predicted in Climate Crisis scenarios, and the relationship was recently confirmed: "For years scientists, relying on basic physics and climate knowledge, have said global warming would likely cause extremes in temperatures and rainfall. But this is the first time researchers have been able to point to a demonstrable cause-and-effect by using the rigorous and scientifically accepted method of looking for the "fingerprints" of human-caused climate change."

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