Climate Change
Forecaster Predicts Active Atlantic Hurricane Season
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 04 April 2005: - - MIAMI - Like last year, the coming Atlantic hurricane season will be fiercer than normal, with a heightened probability of a major hurricane making landfall in the United States, a noted forecaster said on Friday.
Following one of the most destructive hurricane seasons recorded, Colorado State University professor William Gray said 2005 would see 13 named storms, of which seven would turn into hurricanes. He predicted three major hurricanes with winds exceeding 111 mph (180 kph).
The long-term average for the Atlantic basin is 9.6 named storms and 5.9 hurricanes, of which 2.3 are intense hurricanes, per season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. "All of the information we have collected and analyzed through March indicates that the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season will be an active one," Gray said in a statement.
"We anticipate tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic basin in 2005 will be about 135 percent of the long-term average. We also estimate the probability of US major hurricane landfall to be about 140 percent of average."
The 2004 hurricane season spawned 15 tropical storms, of which nine developed into hurricanes. Four of those slammed into Florida in a six-week period, causing total damages of around $45 billion, which far exceeded the $25 billion cost of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Fifty-seven people were directly killed by the storms in the United States, and another 152 died from indirect causes -- a toll that paled in comparison to the 3,000 drowned or buried under mud after Tropical Storm Jeanne swept over Haiti.
Other Caribbean islands like Jamaica, Grenada and the Cayman Islands were also badly hit last year and the Caribbean as a whole suffered in excess of $3 billion in damages.
Gray and Philip Klotzbach, an atmospheric research scientist at Colorado State University, said they might increase their predictions for the number of storms in 2005 if weather conditions continued to point to a lack of significant El Nino conditions in the Pacific this year.
The El Nino weather phenomenon produces a distinct warming of Pacific waters and tends to suppress storm activity in the Atlantic.
"If the next few months verify our beliefs about the lack of significant El Nino conditions, it is likely that we will be raising our forecast numbers in our coming May 31 and Aug. 5 forecast updates," Klotzbach said.
In December, Gray's team published an initial prediction for 11 tropical storms and hurricanes in 2005.
US hurricane experts say the number of hurricanes appears to increase and decrease in multiyear cycles and the Atlantic may have entered a 30- to 40-year period of greater storm activity after several decades of relative calm.
Unlike weather researchers elsewhere, US experts reject suggestions that the heightened storm activity could be due to global warming, rising global temperatures that many scientists say are caused in part by industrial pollution.
Reuters News
http://www.globalsurfnews.com/news.asp?Id_news=16226
Climate change fears for East Anglians
TARA GREAVES
03 April 2005 20:51
East Anglians are more worried about climate change than terrorism and declining educational standards, according to a report out today.
While tax rises top the new table of concerns (at 26pc), climate change is a close second (23pc), followed by falling standards in schools (20pc), terrorism (19pc) and NHS waiting lists (11pc).
http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED03%20Apr%202005%2020%3A51%3A07%3A927
Global climate change may damage habitat for young salmon, Sequim science research indicates
2005-04-03
by ALAN CHOATE
SEQUIM -- Higher temperatures brought about by global climate change most likely will damage critical habitat for young salmon in western Washington waterways -- and development in places like Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca could hamstring nature's ability to adapt.
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/203163
Global Warming Fight Gathers Steam
Health, Faith, Labor, Eco Groups Join Together Against Global Warming
Environment News Service
04/03/2005 8:42 am
(ENS) - More than 100 organizations across the Northeast have partnered in a call for reductions in global warming pollution from power plants. Public health, faith, labor and action groups joined environmental organizations in signing on to a set of principles that support a 25 percent reduction in power plant carbon dioxide emissions by 2020.
http://www.longislandpress.com/?cp=162&show=article&a_id=1803
Global warming: Shutdown of Atlantic current would ravage food stocks
If the North Atlantic Ocean‘s circulation system is shut down -- an apocalyptic global-warming scenario -- the impact on the world‘s food supplies would be disastrous, a study said.
http://www.obviousnews.com/breakingnews/stories/obviousnews-552492.html
Atmospheric scientist to discuss global warming
By Vickie S. Kirby, Austin College Director of Editorial Communication
Apr 3, 2005
SHERMAN - Scientist Jerry North will present the lecture “Texas and Global Warming” at Austin College Thursday, April 14, 2005, at 11 a.m. in Ida Green Theatre of the Ida Green Conference Center. A pre-lecture coffee begins at 10 am. The lecture and coffee are free and open to the public.
http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_24724.shtml
'Let's profit from global warming with better grassland use'
Apr 5 2005
Steve Dube, Western Mail
GLOBAL warming has arrived - but one of Wales' leading livestock producers says farmers can harness its effects to extend the growing season and increase profits.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/1000farming/tm_objectid=15366456&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=-let-s-profit-from-global-warming-with-better-grassland-use--name_page.html
Namibia's Ignorance About Global Warming 'Dangerous'
The Namibian (Windhoek)
April 4, 2005
Posted to the web April 4, 2005
Absalom Shigwedha
Windhoek
NAMIBIA needs to break down climate change into simple concepts and ideas that ordinary citizens can understand and will support, a senior official in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism has said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200504040091.html
Effects of global warming on Texas to be discussed at Austin College April 14
By media release
Apr 4, 2005
The Earth's average temperature appears to be warming at a rate unprecedented over the last thousand years. The rate of warming is about 0.1 deg Fahrenheit per year. In some places and seasons the warming is greater than in others.
Along with the warming are accompanying changes in precipitation and sea level.
Other phenomena such as storm frequency may change as well. The best candidate to explain the climate changes is the increases in greenhouse gases that are mainly emitted from the burning of fossil fuels.
http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_24829.shtml
The New Zealand Herald
Family want autopsy after Ivory Coast death
Catherine Sands-Wearing
06.04.05 4.00pm
By Julia Mahony of NZPA
The family of a New Zealander who died in an Ivory Coast jail cell want an autopsy to help prove their belief he did not commit suicide.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10119058
Kurdish leader Talabani to be named Iraq president
Veteran Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani will be named Iraq's new president, senior government sources said. Picture / Reuters
06.04.05 1.00pm
by Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD - Iraq's squabbling factions have reached agreement on the country's next president and vice presidents in a key step towards overcoming a political stalemate and forming a new government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10119024
Human tide pays last respects to Pope
Mourners pour into the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica past the crimson-robed body of Pope John Paul II. Picture / Reuters
06.04.05 1.00pm
VATICAN CITY - A swelling, ceaseless tide of faithful streamed past Pope John Paul's body in a day and night vigil that will culminate on Friday in the biggest funeral in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10119039
Secretive cardinals hint at ideas on new Pope
06.04.05
VATICAN CITY - They are sworn to secrecy - but Roman Catholic cardinals are already voicing thoughts on what kind of a man should succeed Pope John Paul as they converge on the Vatican for a conclave to elect the new pontiff.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10118965
Annan gives Hague court list of accused in Darfur
Displaced Sudanese women from the Darfur region wait for relief food and medication in Aweil. File picture / Reuters
06.04.05 1.00pm
UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has given the International Criminal Court a list of 51 people suspected of slaughter, rape and pillaging in Sudan's Darfur region, the first step toward a war-crimes prosecution.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10119013
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Snow
-14.0°
Updated Wednesday 06 Apr 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
43 °F / 6 °C
Mostly Cloudy
Windchill:
41 °F / 5 °C
Humidity:
76%
Dew Point:
36 °F / 2 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the SE
Pressure:
29.81 in / 1009 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Mostly Cloudy 3297 ft / 1005 m
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