Greetings,
There is a Word8 version of this press release at:
http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/Press.html

2003/07/03: Independent(UK): Reaping the whirlwind
Extreme weather prompts unprecedented global warming alert
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=421166

I converted the Word doc to text (via hd) so the formatting
will not match the original.
regards
-het


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For use of the information media -.WMO-No 69587.Not an official record....
ACCORDING TO THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION,EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS MIGHT INCREASE

Geneva, 2 July 2003

Record extremes in weather and climate events continue to occur around the world.
Recent scientific assessments indicate that, as the global temperatures continue to
warm due to climate change, the number and intensity of extreme events might increase,
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) states in a press release issued today.
In June, record high temperatures were recorded across southern France, with maximum
temperatures exceeding 40.C in parts of southwest France. This resulted in June average
temperatures of 5 to 7.C above the long-term average. In Switzerland, the month of June
was the hottest in at least the past 250 years, according to environmental historians.
In Geneva, since 29 May, maximum daytime temperatures did not drop below 25C, making
June the hottest June on record for the city. In the United States, there were 562
tornados during May, which resulted in 41 deaths This established a record for the
number of tornados in any month. The previous monthly record was 399 tornados in June
1992. In the eastern and southeastern part of the US, wet and cold conditions
prevailed for well over a month. Weekly negative temperature anomalies of .2C to .6C
were experienced in May while precipitation excesses, ranging from 50.mm to 350 mm over
a period of more than 12 weeks starting in March 2003, have been recorded. In India,
this year.s pre-monsoon heat wave brought peak temperatures of between 45.C and 49.C
which correspond to weekly temperature departures from the normal of +2 to +5C. At
least 1400 people died in India due to the hot weather. In Sri Lanka, heavy rainfalls
from Tropical Cyclone.01B exacerbated already wet conditions, resulting in flooding and
landslides and killing at least 300 people. The infrastructure and economy of south
western Sri Lanka was heavily damaged. A reduction of 20-30% is expected for the output
of low-grown tea in the next three months. These record extreme events (high temperatures,
low temperatures and high rainfall amounts and droughts) all go into calculating the
monthly and annual averages which, for temperatures, have been gradually increasing over
the past 100 years. New record extreme events occur every year somewhere in the globe,
but in recent years the number of such extremes have been increasing. According to
recent climate change scientific assessment repor ts of the joint WMO/UNEP
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global average surface.temperature
has increased since 1861. Over the 20th century the increase has been around 0.6.C. This
value is about 0.15C larger than that estimated by the previous reports. New analyses
of proxy data for the Northern Hemisphere indicate that the increase in temperature in
the 20th century is likely to have been the largest in any century during the past 1000
years. It is also likely that, in the Northern Hemisphere, the 1990s were the warmest
decade and 1998 the warmest year. While the trend towards warmer globally averaged surface
temperatures has been uneven over the course of the last century, the trend for the period
since 1976 is roughly three times that for the past 100 years as a whole. Global average
land and sea surface temperatures in May 2003 were the second highest since records began
in 1880. Considering land temperatures only, last May was the warmest on record. The
influence of El Ni.o and La Nina on these extreme events is in general undefined. The World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) and its Members, the National Meteorological and
Hydrological Services along with various research institutes, will continue to organize
research and document the influence of El Nino and other large scale climate phenomena
on climate extreme events.
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For more information please contact:
Ms Carine Richard-Van Maele,
Chief Information and Public Affairs.
World MeteorologicalOrganization
Tel: .+41 (0) 22 730 83 14/5.
Fax:+41 (0)22 730 80 27.
E-mail:
Internet website: http://www.wmo.ch
Press Release
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WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION.A SPECIALIZED AGENCY OFTHE UNITED NATIONS
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--
"Circles. And circles within circles.
It's a native thing." -Gracie Heavy Hand

Global Warming: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/globalwarming.html
H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/