World hit by record extreme weather events in 2007: WMO

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

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Perilous Times and Global Warming

World hit by record extreme weather events in 2007: WMO*

GENEVA, Aug 7 (AFP) Aug 07, 2007

Many parts of the world have experienced record extreme weather
conditions including unusual floods, heatwaves, storms and cold snaps
since the beginning of the year, the UN's weather agency said Tuesday.

Preliminary observations also indicated that global land surface
temperatures in January and April reached the highest levels ever
recorded for those months, the World Meteorological Organisation said in
a statement.

The WMO said global land temperatures were likely to have been 1.89
degrees Celsius warmer than average in January and 1.37 degrees above
average in April.

In Europe alone, April temperatures are thought to have been about four
degrees above average, WMO scientist Omar Baddour told journalists.

The conditions match predictions of more frequent extremes given by
scientists in the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
who are monitoring the progress and causes of global warming, Baddour
underlined.

"The beginning of 2007 was very active in terms of extreme weather
events," he said.

The WMO's list of extreme weather events includes current exceptionally
heavy monsoon rains and floods in South Asia this summer which have
affected 30 million people, as well as the severe flooding in Britain
fuelled by the wettest May to July on record.

Other events include the summer heatwave in southeastern Europe, heavy
rain in June that ravaged part of southern China and cyclone Gonu, the
first documented tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea that hit Oman and
Iran in June, causing 50 deaths.

Abnormally heavy and early rainfall in Sudan caused the River Nile to
overflow in June, while unusually heavy snowfall clad South Africa and
parts of South America.

In May, swell waves up to 4.5 metres (15 feet) high swamped parts of the
Maldive islands, causing serious flooding and extensive damage, while
across the world Uruguay was hit by the worst flooding since 1959, the
WMO said.