17 countries experience record temperatures

[Peikko 1,575]

Link

A forest fire rages near the village of Golovanovo, Russia, last week. Temperatures in Moscow have now fallen to a more manageable 31C. Photograph: Igor Kharitonov/EPA 2010 is becoming the year of the heatwave, with record temperatures set in 17 countries.

Record highs have occurred in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine – the three nations at the centre of the present eastern European heatwave which has continued for more than three weeks – but also many African, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries.

Temperatures in Moscow, which have been consistently 20C above normal, today

fell to a more manageable 31C (86F). But the extreme heat experienced there would barely have registered in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Niger, Pakistan and Sudan, all of which have recorded temperatures of more than 47C (115F) since June. The number of record highs is itself a record – the previous record was for 14 new high temperatures in 2007.

The heatwaves, which have devastated crops and wildlife, are believed to have killed thousands of elderly people, especially in Russia and northern India. The 2003 European heatwave is known to have killed around 15,000 people.

Pakistan, now experiencing its worst ever floods, had the hottest temperature ever recorded in Asia on May 26, when 53.5C (128.3F) was recorded in Mohenjo-daro, according to the Pakistani Meteorological Department. The heatwaves have also been experienced in the US where Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Washington, Baltimore and Trenton all recorded their highest ever temperatures in July.

The global research, collated by meteorologists at weather information provider Weather Underground, supports US government data collated on 11 different indicators – from air and sea temperatures to melting ice – which showed temperatures rising around the world since the 1850s. This June was also the hottest ever on record and 2010 is on course to be the warmest year since records began, according to separate data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published last month.

Only one country has set a record for its coldest-ever temperature in 2010. Guinea, in west Africa, recorded 1.4C (34.5F) in a nine-day cold snap at Mali-ville in the Labe region in January. Farmers lost most of their crops and animals.

Yes, it has been cool in some parts of California this year, but does that really somehow negate the exceptional high temperatures elsewhere? I mean, really, what is the scientific basis for the conclusion that one cooler than normal state somehow means that record high temperatures in other states is irrelevant?

[^_^ 5,021]

17..... how many countries are there?................. the defense rests.............................

[Peikko 1,575]

17..... how many countries are there?................. the defense rests.............................

Yeah, no kidding.

I don't think these things are unimportant even if I don't know what the significance is exactly.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I don't think these things are unimportant even if I don't know what the significance is exactly.

Conservopedia to the rescue.

The AGW theory is supported by left-leaning political parties, as well as a majority of sovereign states, national agencies, and an intergovernmental panel (see IPCC). The reality is that there is no global crisis, despite dire warning by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

There, settled. It's a leftist conspiracy. That's all. No significance.

[Peikko 1,575]

Conservopedia to the rescue.

There, settled. It's a leftist conspiracy. That's all. No significance.

Clearly Conservopedia is written by Americans exclusively.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

The arrogance of man is to think he can control the climate.

If you want to survive what's coming, I would suggest building something huge that can make into space. Otherwise, it'll be over before you know it.

Ask those who study the sun what's going on and who study the earth's magnetic field and you might learn something.

Or you can keep believing the ruse by the statists that "man" is doing all of this.

-The Emperor Has Spoken.

[Peikko 1,575]

The arrogance of man is to think he can control the climate.

If you want to survive what's coming, I would suggest building something huge that can make into space. Otherwise, it'll be over before you know it.

Ask those who study the sun what's going on and who study the earth's magnetic field and you might learn something.

Or you can keep believing the ruse by the statists that "man" is doing all of this.

-The Emperor Has Spoken.

Talking of arrogant men...

[Peikko 1,575]

The mighty Sun weighs in with

THESE satellite images show the rapid destruction of one of the world's largest lakes - now just a shadow of its former beauty.

The Aral Sea, once the size of Ireland, has been reduced to polluted ponds a tenth its original size.

These snaps document the lake's devastation in less than 40 years. The first, taken in 1973, shows the Aral - straddling Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in central Asia - only years after Soviet irrigation projects diverted the rivers feeding it. The 2009 snap shows the lake has all but dried up.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon called it "one of the worst environmental disasters". University of Reading expert Dr Ben Lloyd-Hughes said: "It's the effect of man and rising temperatures."

Pics here.

Man can't change his environment at all, can he? Oh, arrogant, arrogant man to think he can!

Edited August 12, 2010 by Madame Cleo

[Peikko 1,575]

Wow, I'm surprised at Murdoch; the Sun now has a whole 'green' section. I'm stunned.

Here's the Sun's version of the same story

KILLER floods and droughts, mudslides and raging wildfires. Welcome to 2010 - the year the weather went berserk.

In Pakistan, floods have killed at least 1,600 and left two million homeless. In China similar deluges caused landslides that have left more than 700 dead.

On the other side of the globe, floodwater triggered mudslides that claimed 212 lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Meanwhile, a Russian heatwave is causing wildfires and a toxic smog that is killing up to 700 people a day.

The soaring temperatures there have also devastated a crop-growing area the size of Hungary, prompting fears of a global grain shortage.

In Africa's Sahel region, south of the Sahara, a severe drought is putting the lives of ten million in peril.

Britain has not suffered so drastically. But the driest first six months since 1929 have led to empty reservoirs, hosepipe bans and farmers reporting a shortage of grazing for livestock.

So far 2010 is the warmest year globally since records began more than a century ago. Two weeks ago Moscow recorded a temperature of 38.2°C (100.8°F) - its hottest day for 130 years. Days later it was broken again.

Experts say they cannot prove global warming is to blame - but the finger of suspicion points that way.

Climatologist Professor Andrew Watson of East Anglia University said: "I'm sure the increased frequency of these kind of summers in the last few decades is linked to climate change.

"But you cannot say a single event or a single summer is unequivocally due to climate change - by definition it's weather and not climate."

Omar Baddour, of the UN World Meteorological Organisation, said: "We will always have climate extremes. But it looks like climate change is exacerbating the intensity of the extremes.

"In Pakistan, the magnitude of the floods is unheard of. It's an unprecedented situation. But one must observe the extremes over many years to draw conclusions in terms of climate."

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "One cannot conclude 100 per cent nothing like this happened in the past 200 years. But the suspicion is there."

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari returned home to a storm of criticism yesterday after a tour of Europe.

He was blasted for jetting to France and Britain during the worst floods in Pakistan's history, which have hit 14million people.

More than 1,000 people were still missing in China's Gansu province yesterday.

Read more:Pics for the reading challenged here.