Freak storms lash eastern Australia, at least two dead

[Minstrel Boy]

Freak storms lash eastern Australia, at least two dead

03 February 2005

MELBOURNE, Australia : Freak summer storms lashed eastern Australia overnight, dumping record rains on Melbourne, hitting Brisbane with a towering dust storm and leaving at least two people dead, officials said.

Melbourne received more rain in the 24 hours to Thursday morning than during any day since records began in 1856, leaving the city's rivers and waterways swollen to bursting point.

...

The storms, caused by an intense low-pressure system, hit a vast area from Queensland state in the north, through New South Wales and Victoria and on to the island state of Tasmania off mainland Australia's southeastern corner.

The front swept in on Wednesday when eastern Australia was experiencing blue skies and sweltering heat normal for the height of the southern summer. But within hours temperatures plunged to record lows and skies went dark as massive storm clouds dumped rain, hail and even snow across vast areas.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/130602/1/.html

[wheresthemind]

1. We're getting a lot of "freak" and "record breaking" storms recently....

[SheilaT]

2. I remember reading about 40 years ago

that we were moving into an era of more unpredictable weather, with colder winters, hotter summers, more extreme conditions of all kinds. And this was long before anyone had any clue global warming could be happening.

A lot of the "freak" and "record breaking" designation comes from sheer ignorance. Humans haven't been keeping reliable records for very long in most of the world, so they have no clue what is the long range normal for any given area. And as population grows, inevitably more people are affected by weather events.

[Minstrel Boy]

3. Global warming: scientists reveal timetable

03 February 2005


A detailed timetable of the destruction and distress that global warming is likely to cause the world was unveiled yesterday.

It pulls together for the first time the projected impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, food production, water resources and economies across the earth, for given rises in global temperature expected during the next hundred years.

The resultant picture gives the most wide-ranging impression yet of the bewildering array of destructive effects that climate change is expected to exert on different regions, from the mountains of Europe and the rainforests of the Amazon to the coral reefs of the tropics.

...

As present world temperatures are already 0.7C above the pre-industrial level, the process is well under way. In the near future - the next 25 years - as the temperature climbs to the 1C mark, some specialised ecosystems will start to feel stress, such as the tropical highland forests of Queensland, which contain a large number of Australia's endemic plant species, and the succulent karoo plant region of South Africa. In some developing countries, food production will start to decline, water shortage problems will worsen and there will be net losses in GDP.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=607254

[indigobusiness]

4. Snow in Summer? Record rainfall? Dogs and cats...living together?

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.