Post by coolplanet on Jan 5, 2014 13:21:37 GMT -5
Big weather events "getting worse" - climatologist
By Vivienne Nunis | 5 January 2014, 13:22
voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_01_05/Big-weather-events-getting-worse-climatologist-9310/
Severe weather has lashed the UK again, with flooding in the west of England and Wales forcing some to evacuate their homes. But it’s not just people in Britain who’ll be mopping up - extreme weather is also hitting Ireland and parts of the United States. At the other end of the scale, Australia has just recorded its hottest year on record.
With much of England battered by storms over Christmas, the New Year has brought little relief.
This morning the Environment Agency forecast 21 areas would be hit by severe floods endangering life. As the day wore on that prediction was revised down to seven severe flood warnings in the Midlands, the South West and Wales. By Friday evening, flooding was still expected in around 130 locations across the UK.
Cornwall, Dorset and Devon bore the brunt of the bad weather in England, with some wind gusts reaching over 90 miles an hour. Scotland faced tidal surges, while flooding caused homes to be evacuated in Newport, Wales.
Nicola Maxey from the Met Office says it’s rare to have two bouts of bad weather in such a short time:
“The issue is that it’s one front after the other so it’s quite unusual in that they’re quite close together. And also because they’re so close together, the land isn’t having time to dry out so you’re getting a lot of rain on already wet ground.”
The British government responded with a COBRA meeting chaired by Environment Minister Owen Paterson.
But the UK isn’t the only place dealing with extreme weather.
Ireland has faced three major storms in just two weeks. On the other side of the Atlantic, CNN reported on Friday, 100 million people in 22 states were in the path of a snowstorm hitting Northeast America.
Dr Keiran Hickey, a climatologist at the National University of Ireland in Galway, said:
“The big issue here is the number of weather extremes we’re seeing around the world, including in the UK and in Europe but also obviously in North America as well, and the and that would fit nicely into the predictions for climate change and global warming in that we would see moseverity of these big weather events seems to be getting worsere climate disturbance, less so-called ‘normal’ weather and more extremes taking place.”
Dr Hickey said a pattern of extreme weather conditions can be identified in several places across the planet: “And Ireland is a good example of that because since November 2009, there hasn’t been a six-month period gone by without one significant weather extreme affecting the country and that’s unprecedented probably over the last 100 years.”
This year in Ireland a dry spell meant fodder for farm animals had to be imported for the first time in 50 years. Then a summer heat wave saw temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius for the first time in decades, only for December to bring heavy rain and flooding.
Australia is a country well used to extreme weather, but the year just gone was one for the record books. Ned Wickoll, a journalist based in Sydney, said: “So 2013 has been the hottest year on record in Australia according to the Bureau of Meteorology and this has gone back all the way to 1910 when records began. Not only did we get the hottest January 7th the day on record, we got the hottest month and the hottest season. Of course now the Bureau has confirmed the hottest year on record. It’s been sweltering in all parts of Australia at various parts of 2013 and the Bureau’s now made it official.”
But the country that suffered the most from severe weather in 2013 was undoubtedly the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan devastated the island country, leaving more than 6000 people confirmed dead and thousands more homeless.
Dr Keiran Hickey said the powerful cyclone can be linked to global warming: “One of the major drivers behind hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones – which are the same phenomenon, just in different oceans – is of course, the big driver is sea surface temperatures and obviously as the sea surface warms up, it means more energy can be pushed into these storms so the tendency is for these hurricanes and cyclones and typhoons is that some of them will get much stronger over the coming decades and that typhoon is a classic example of what can actually happen as well. And of course in a country like the Philippines where there is little coastal protection, they are very vulnerable to the impact of major storm events.”
And the Irish climatologist predicts more severe weather for 2014.
Hickey said: “The extreme weather seems to be here to stay for the moment certainly, and there doesn’t seem to be any let up. The question of course is when and where is the big issue and that’s almost impossible to decipher.”
It seems unfortunate timing then for the Environment Agency to be losing staff. Today the Agency confirmed 1500 employees would go in October – and some of those jobs will be in flood protection.
By Vivienne Nunis | 5 January 2014, 13:22
voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_01_05/Big-weather-events-getting-worse-climatologist-9310/
Severe weather has lashed the UK again, with flooding in the west of England and Wales forcing some to evacuate their homes. But it’s not just people in Britain who’ll be mopping up - extreme weather is also hitting Ireland and parts of the United States. At the other end of the scale, Australia has just recorded its hottest year on record.
With much of England battered by storms over Christmas, the New Year has brought little relief.
This morning the Environment Agency forecast 21 areas would be hit by severe floods endangering life. As the day wore on that prediction was revised down to seven severe flood warnings in the Midlands, the South West and Wales. By Friday evening, flooding was still expected in around 130 locations across the UK.
Cornwall, Dorset and Devon bore the brunt of the bad weather in England, with some wind gusts reaching over 90 miles an hour. Scotland faced tidal surges, while flooding caused homes to be evacuated in Newport, Wales.
Nicola Maxey from the Met Office says it’s rare to have two bouts of bad weather in such a short time:
“The issue is that it’s one front after the other so it’s quite unusual in that they’re quite close together. And also because they’re so close together, the land isn’t having time to dry out so you’re getting a lot of rain on already wet ground.”
The British government responded with a COBRA meeting chaired by Environment Minister Owen Paterson.
But the UK isn’t the only place dealing with extreme weather.
Ireland has faced three major storms in just two weeks. On the other side of the Atlantic, CNN reported on Friday, 100 million people in 22 states were in the path of a snowstorm hitting Northeast America.
Dr Keiran Hickey, a climatologist at the National University of Ireland in Galway, said:
“The big issue here is the number of weather extremes we’re seeing around the world, including in the UK and in Europe but also obviously in North America as well, and the and that would fit nicely into the predictions for climate change and global warming in that we would see moseverity of these big weather events seems to be getting worsere climate disturbance, less so-called ‘normal’ weather and more extremes taking place.”
Dr Hickey said a pattern of extreme weather conditions can be identified in several places across the planet: “And Ireland is a good example of that because since November 2009, there hasn’t been a six-month period gone by without one significant weather extreme affecting the country and that’s unprecedented probably over the last 100 years.”
This year in Ireland a dry spell meant fodder for farm animals had to be imported for the first time in 50 years. Then a summer heat wave saw temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius for the first time in decades, only for December to bring heavy rain and flooding.
Australia is a country well used to extreme weather, but the year just gone was one for the record books. Ned Wickoll, a journalist based in Sydney, said: “So 2013 has been the hottest year on record in Australia according to the Bureau of Meteorology and this has gone back all the way to 1910 when records began. Not only did we get the hottest January 7th the day on record, we got the hottest month and the hottest season. Of course now the Bureau has confirmed the hottest year on record. It’s been sweltering in all parts of Australia at various parts of 2013 and the Bureau’s now made it official.”
But the country that suffered the most from severe weather in 2013 was undoubtedly the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan devastated the island country, leaving more than 6000 people confirmed dead and thousands more homeless.
Dr Keiran Hickey said the powerful cyclone can be linked to global warming: “One of the major drivers behind hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones – which are the same phenomenon, just in different oceans – is of course, the big driver is sea surface temperatures and obviously as the sea surface warms up, it means more energy can be pushed into these storms so the tendency is for these hurricanes and cyclones and typhoons is that some of them will get much stronger over the coming decades and that typhoon is a classic example of what can actually happen as well. And of course in a country like the Philippines where there is little coastal protection, they are very vulnerable to the impact of major storm events.”
And the Irish climatologist predicts more severe weather for 2014.
Hickey said: “The extreme weather seems to be here to stay for the moment certainly, and there doesn’t seem to be any let up. The question of course is when and where is the big issue and that’s almost impossible to decipher.”
It seems unfortunate timing then for the Environment Agency to be losing staff. Today the Agency confirmed 1500 employees would go in October – and some of those jobs will be in flood protection.