Weird, wild weather a new norm

[Newsjock]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050712.wxweather12/BNStory/National

By OLIVER MOORE
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

It's official: According to Environment Canada, there's no such thing as normal weather any more.

From one end of the country to the other, Canadians have been facing extreme weather, from unusual cloudiness on the West Coast to heavy rain across the Prairies and oppressive heat in Southern Ontario and parts of Quebec.

... "We're out of superlatives to talk about this summer," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.

... The idea of typical weather is disappearing, he explained. "There's nothing normal any more," he said. "Statistically, you should get more normal weather than extreme weather. Normal is what you expect. It's almost as if what nature's (giving us) is the ends of the spectrum.

... The hottest place in the country yesterday was Moosonee, Ont., the town at the southern tip of James Bay. In that community the temperature hit 36 degrees (97 Fahrenheit), or topping 40 degrees with the humidity.

more

[wli]

1. anomalous weather is dangerous

This is not just because it could be a storm, but because aviation, farming, motor car traffic, nautical traffic, etc. all rely on predictability of weather to prepare for weather conditions. Destabilizing weather patterns causes casualties, period.

Unfortunately, the only thing actually likely to get anyone's attention is something as dramatic as more severe storms, while they fail to realize the hidden costs across the board wrt. transportation and even health (heat stroke or hypothermia from inability to anticipate how to dress for weather conditions).

[Boomer]

3. Famine is also dangerous

What all these weather reports are underreporting is how devastating the increased climate volatility will be for agriculture.

Already, Spain and France are facing significantly reduced crop yields. The years of surplus are coming to an end.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. A good while back...

Art Bell wrote a book called "The Coming SuperStorm" about this sort of thing.

Global warming, you see.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. "There's nothing normal any more"

Yeah, I hear that.

Most people, I'm afraid, aren't overly troubled by the notion of gradual climate. There have always been more immediate concerns.

Surprise - it's not gradual. We're now seeing sudden changes in our lifetime, and they're not for the better.

And now we can plainly see the changes, it's too late to reverse them.

What stupid monkeys we are.