The Independent: World faces hottest year ever, as El Niño combines with global warming

[TomClash]

World faces hottest year ever, as El Niño combines with global warming
By Cahal Milmo
Published: 01 January 2007

A combination of global warming and the El Niño weather system is set to make 2007 the warmest year on record with far-reaching consequences for the planet, one of Britain's leading climate experts has warned.

As the new year was ushered in with stormy conditions across the UK, the forecast for the next 12 months is of extreme global weather patterns which could bring drought to Indonesia and leave California under a deluge.

The warning, from Professor Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, was one of four sobering predictions from senior scientists and forecasters that 2007 will be a crucial year for determining the response to global warming and its effect on humanity.

Professor Jones said the long-term trend of global warming - already blamed for bringing drought to the Horn of Africa and melting the Arctic ice shelf - is set to be exacerbated by the arrival of El Niño, the phenomenon caused by above-average sea temperatures in the Pacific.

Combined, they are set to bring extreme conditions across the globe and make 2007 warmer than 1998, the hottest year on record. It is likely temperatures will also exceed 2006, which was declared in December the hottest in Britain since 1659 and the sixth warmest in global records.


http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2116873.ece

[NotGivingUp]

1. this definitely does not sound good

[TomClash]

2. Check this out - No snow in Central Park in December - first time since 1877

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/nyregion/01nosnow.html?em&ex=1167800400&en=1b989ef13fed9b00&ei=5087%0A

[Auntie Bush]

3. No snow in Central Park! Hell there is no snow in Southern Vermont!

Now that's a record!

[Canuckistanian]

7. We haven't had more than 3" of snow here in Ottawa, Canada

And today, we're having a major thaw, all of the ice we've gotten over the past three weeks is melting completely away in a matter of hours.

There's been a sudden temperature jump of about 15 degrees C (about 27 degrees Fahrenheit) since yesterday.

And this has happened several times over the past few years.

I dare any global warming skeptic to remember any time in their lives when this has ever happened before.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. All your snow is ours...

We've had a ton of snow here, more than I've seen for a while.

[susanna]

18. Detroit, same thing...

I was out on my 2nd floor porch last night ringing in the New Year...50-some degrees, rain. The only snow this year at all fell in early October. (For about 1/2 hour, then it melted.)

Usually we've had about 1/2 - 1 foot snow by now, regardless of accumulation. None. Nada. Zip. It's disturbing.

[leftchick]

4. will the chimp finally listen?

I doubt it...

<snip>

His call for action is shared by Sir David King, the Government's chief scientific adviser, who said that 2006 had shown that the "discussion is now over" on whether climate change is happening. Writing in today's Independent, Sir David says progress has been made in the past year but it is "essential" that a global agreement on emissions is struck quickly. He writes: "Ultimately, only heads of state, working together, can provide the new level of global leadership we need to steer the world on a path towards a sustainable and prosperous future. We need to remember: action is affordable - inaction is not."

The demands came as the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the United Nations agency that deals with climate prediction, issued a warning that El Niño is already established over the tropical Pacific basin. It is set to bring extreme weather across a swath of the planet from the Americas and south-east Asia to the Horn of Africa for at least the first four months of 2007.

[Toots]

5. Congress is about to begin, maybe they need some prompting

Something needs to be done...I think we can all agree upon that, but what? Did you know the Kyoto Accords were rejected by the Senate by an absolute huge majority in fact I believe the vote was Unanimous. Both parties felt they were not suitable probably for different reasons but the fact remains they were rejected. Something has to be done though.....America consumes way beyond it's fair share of the world's resources. This fact alone is reason for many in the world to hate America. We create terrorism just by our gluttony. We feel entitled to the worlds resources just because we are so powerful and have always taken whatever we need and want. That is going to have to stop for the world to survive but can it, will it? I suppose small adjustments can be made. Higher CAFE standards for instance and major push for the sale of energy efficient light bulbs, but the larger issue of the type of energy we use will not be addressed. They talk the talk but we will see if they walk the walk. We must seek Alternative energy sources and do so now. Imagine if we spent the same amount of money on research and development of alternative energy as we have on blowing people up in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can harness the tides, the winds, the sun, and who knows what else, why don't we?

[hatrack]

6. The Kyoto Protocol has never been submitted to the Senate for a vote

What did get voted on was a "sense of the Senate" resolution, a.k.a. the Hagel-Byrd resolution, which passed 98-0. It was something along the lines of "we'll never sign any climate treaty that hurts the economic interests of the United States, etc."

Clinton never sent the Protocol to the Hill and Bush sure as hell never will.

[hedgehog]

8. I've never been a fan of the Kyoto Protocol - I think it's window dressing.

My understanding is that the Western countries such as Great Britain and Germany met their requirements by continuing with programs already underway such as replacing older less efficient power plants and transferring production to other countries. In other words, they complied with Kyoto with no pain. At the same time, India and China were allowed to continue development along the same lines that got us all into this mess. We need to take some action, but I don't think Kyoto is all that useful.

[TomClash]

16. This is true

but even so Kyoto was replaced with . . . nothing. How is that helpful?

[Morgana LaFey]

9. Why was this moved OUT of LBN? It's timely, it's important, it's

news, it's from an approved source. Hell, if they can leave celebrity deaths in LBN, it sure as hell seems this is newsworthy enough.

AND, I might add, it got at least 5 recommendations before it got moved... because it was on the Greatest Page.

Doesn't make sense to me.

[NotGivingUp]

12. doesn't make sense to me either. n/t

[TomClash]

15. Beats me

I thought I had followed the rules. :shrug:

[Morgana LaFey]

17. Maybe it had already been posted -- but if that, why not

combine it??

[Greybnk48]

10. No snow just south of Green Bay and 50 yesterday

my grass is still green. It was this warm a couple of years ago. I have movies of snapdragons in full bloom on Christmas morning from several years ago. The Canada geese here no longer go south and haven't for some time.

[Pathwalker]

11. Kicking because this is important.

:kick:

[highplainsdem]

14. K&R

[Porcupine]

19. If it rains more than last year in California....

I'm building an ark!!!

Last spring we had two stretches where it rained over 24 days of the month. I can't take another spring like that.

[nolabels]

20. Southern California was kind of dry last year also

Every year the weather gets stranger and stranger :shrug: