Wetter and wilder: the signs of warming everywhere

[RedEarth]

Source: Guardian,

Around the world, millions of people are feeling the force of a changing climate. As UN negotiations towards a global climate deal continue in Poznan, Poland, this week, evidence is emerging of weather patterns in turmoil and the poorest nations disproportionately bearing the brunt of warming.

While rich countries at the talks seek to set up global carbon trading, using financial markets to tackle - and profit from - climate change, poor countries want justice. They are seeking environmental justice: money to adapt their economies to climate changes they did not cause, and technology and resources to allow them to escape poverty while preserving their forests and ecosystems.

The fast and unpredictable shifts in weather are not threats for the future, but happening right now. "The frequency of heatwaves and heavy precipitation is increasing; cyclones are becoming more frequent and intense; more areas are being affected by droughts; and flooding is now more serious," says Sheridan Bartlett, a researcher with the International Institute for Environment and Development in a new study looking at the effects of climate change on children.

"Increasingly unpredictable weather now affects hundreds of millions of farmers, resulting in food and water shortages, more illnesses and water-borne diseases, malnutrition, soil erosion, and disruption to water supplies," she says. Such changes confound the received wisdom of how to live on the land.





Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/10/poznan-brazil-climate-change-environment

[1776Forever]

1. I am in Ohio and for some strange reason the geese haven't gone South yet. Anyone else notice this?

What is up with them? It has been cold here for the last 2 weeks but it is warmer today. Will the warmer air return? It will be interesting to see how the weather is from now on.

[illuminaughty]

11. Everyone here is sick from the weird weather.

Last night (Kansas City) it hit 67 degrees at midnight. Today we had sleet then snow and now it is 12 degrees. It's been doing this temp rollercoaster for weeks. Jumping up and down like freakin' Mohave desert weather.

I did notice it took forever for the Robins to leave this year. But we have Canadian geese all year round hanging out at the corporate lakes where no one can shoot at them.

[sakabatou]

2. I dunno

Here, it seems winter has come late.

[shanti]

3. doesn't it?

i'm in sac, and have been thinking the same thing myself. the leaves are usually off all the trees by now, but they are still half there. the last couple of days have felt like winter, but it really hasn't been that cold yet. not that much rain either...

[sakabatou]

4. No

It's very odd.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. It is crazy. In NOLA today it was freaking 73 degrees and raining.

Tomorrow, the high is supposed to be 42! The weather the past few weeks here as been nuts. It is making my sinuses go haywire, they can't decide if it is Spring, Fall, or some level of Hell they yet to experience.

[Frank Booth]

6. I just downloaded that last night.

[HillbillyBob]

7. North Carolina, northern central part near Danville Va

It has been unusually cold here, last winter we had several hard freezes about normal.
This year we have already had 12 degrees at night 3 times higher teens 7 or 8 times in Nov and 5 7nights in the 20s in Oct.
It is warm tonight in the 60s warmer than usual should be low 50s. Normally there would be a couple mild frost and a couple freezes right around 32, but warm up before morning we have had about 2x as many hard hard freezes and stayed pretty cool during the day, this is the kind of weather we would expect for Jan and Feb and it would only last for 3 or 4 weeks, I think this is going to be a long cold winter for the area, and it is dry too.
We have had the heat going at least for nights since mid Oct, we would not even warm it up until late November normally we would have used it a few times not night after night, and some days.
When it is sunny I open the insulated curtains and let in the Sun, but we had it on all day all night for most of the last 2 weeks. We have already gone thru 20 gallons of heat fuel, normally it would be maybe 5.
We are using the kero heater instead of the heat pump because it got too cold for the heat pump to work it drops out at 25F

[chalky]

8. Um...I just looked outside. It's snowing. In Austin, Texas. Before Christmas.

If we get snow, it's usually in late January. And that's a BIG if.

[illuminaughty]

10. Holy crap! I didn't think you guys ever got snow.

My family is headed here to Kansas City next week from Corrigan, Texas. The kids are going to kill me if it doesn't snow. They get some flakes every few years but they want some major snow.

[dysfunctional press]

9. it's been shitty and cold in chicago...colder than normal.

this may be the second winter in a row where the snow falls early and sticks around for awhile...like when we were kids.

[alfredo]

12. Kick

[paparush]

13. In western NC, we had the coldest Nov since 1997. Dec has been warmer

and wetter.