Fact's from the Movie "The Day after Tomorrow"

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European heatwave caused 35,000 deaths

At least 35,000 people died as a result of the record heatwave that scorched Europe in August 2003, says an environmental think tank.

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI), based in Washington DC, warns that such deaths are likely to increase, as "even more extreme weather events lie ahead".

The EPI calculated the huge death toll from the eight western European countries with data available. "Since reports are not yet available for all European countries, the total heat death toll for the continent is likely to be substantially larger," it says in a statement.

France suffered the worst losses, with 14,802 people dying from causes attributable to the blistering heat. This is "more than 19 times the death toll from the SARS epidemic worldwide", notes the EPI.


Silent killer


August 2003 was the hottest August on record in the northern hemisphere. But projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predict more erratic weather, the EPI notes. By the end of this century, the average world temperature is projected to climb by 1.4 to 5.8ýC.

"Though heat waves rarely are given adequate attention, they claim more lives each year than floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined," warns the EPI. "Heat waves are a silent killer, mostly affecting the elderly, the very young, or the chronically ill."

The searing August heat claimed about 7000 lives in Germany, nearly 4200 lives in both Spain and Italy. Over 2000 people died in the UK, with the country recording is first ever temperature over 100ý Fahrenheit on 10th August.


Cooling mechanisms


High temperatures are well known to result in a rise in deaths, as is cold weather. When the body is subjected to extreme heat, it struggles to maintain its ideal temperature of 37ýC. The body attempts to do this by sweating and pumping blood closer to the skin, but high heat and humidity can confound these cooling mechanisms.

If the internal body temperature rises above 40ýC, vital organs are at risk and if the body cannot be cooled, death follows.

Over the last 25 years, the average global temperature has risen by 0.6ýC. The World Meteorological Organization estimates that the number of heat-related deaths could double in less than 20 years.

The EPI says it is confident that the August heatwave has broken all records for heat-related deaths and says the world must cut the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.

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New Science on Global Warming
A summary of recent findings on the changing global climate.


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In recent years, scientists have added considerably to the large body of evidence that shows human activity is changing the global climate, raising temperatures and affecting ecosystems around the world. Here we summarize the most significant findings of the last few years.
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Study of the global climate is one of our most complex scientific endeavors. Yet we now know more than we ever have about humankind's impact on earth's temperature. The news isn't good. Global average temperatures have increased by 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century -- warming faster than any time in the last 1,000 years. As a result, the 1990s was the hottest decade in the last 1,000 years.

Today, most mainstream scientists and scientific bodies agree that heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) -- mainly from the burning of fossil fuels in cars, power plants, factories, and homes -- have caused temperatures to rise around the globe. Because emissions of heat-trapping gases are expected to increase, scientists predict temperatures to rise dramatically over the next century, resulting in serious harm to life on our planet. Below are some of the landmark scientific findings released over the last few years that outline humankind's impact on earth's climate. Given this growing body of evidence, we must act now to reduce pollution from cars and power plants. Our health and the health of our planet depend on it.

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/fgwscience.asp

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EXHIBIT A: Thinning Ice

Antarctica, home to these Adélie penguins, is heating up. The annual melt season has increased up to three weeks in 20 years.
Mount Kilimanjaro has lost 75% of its ice cap since 1912. The ice on Africa's tallest peak could vanish entirely within 15 years.

Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia now freezes for the winter 11 days later than it did a century ago.

Montana will lose all the glaciers in Glacier National Park by 2070 if their retreat continues at the current rate.

Venezuelan mountaintops had six glaciers in 1972. Today only two remain.

EXHIBIT B: Hotter Times

Temperatures sizzled from Kansas to New England last May, surprising residents with an unusually early heat wave.

Crops withered and Dallas temperatures topped 100 degrees F for 29 days straight in a Texas hot spell that struck during the summer of 1998.

India's worst heat shock in 50 years killed more than 2,500 people in May 1998.

Cherry blossoms in Washington bloom seven days earlier in the spring than they did in 1970.

EXHIBIT C: Wild Weather

Heavy rains in England and Wales made last fall Britain's wettest three-month period on record.
Fires due to dry conditions and record-breaking heat consumed 20% of Samos Island, Greece, last July.

Floods along the Ohio River in March 1997 caused 30 deaths and at least $500 million in property damage.

Hurricane Floyd brought flooding rains and 130-m.p.h. winds through the Atlantic seaboard in September 1999, killing 77 people and leaving thousands homeless.

EXHIBIT D: Nature's Pain

Pacific salmon populations fell sharply in 1997 and 1998, when local ocean temperatures rose 6 degrees F.
Polar bears in Hudson Bay are having fewer cubs, possibly as a result of earlier spring ice breakup.

coral reefs suffer from the loss of algae that color and nourish them. The process, called bleaching, is caused by warmer oceans.

Diseases like dengue fever are expanding their reach northward in the U.S. butterflies are relocating to higher latitudes. The Edith¹s Checkerspot butterfly of western North America has moved almost 60 miles north in 100 years

EXHIBIT E: Rising Sea Levels

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was 1,500 ft. from the North Carolina shoreline when it was built in 1870. By the late 1980s the ocean had crept to within 160 ft., and the lighthouse had to be moved to avoid collapse.
Japanese fortifications were built on Kosrae Island in the southwest Pacific Ocean during World War II to guard against U.S. Marines' invading the beach. Today the fortifications are awash at high tide.

Florida farmland up to 1,000 ft. inland from Biscayne Bay is being infiltrated by salt water, rendering the land too toxic for crops. Salt water is also nibbling at the edges of farms on Maryland¹s Eastern Shore.

Brazilian shoreline in the region of Recife receded more than 6 ft. a year from 1915 to 1950 and more than 8 ft. a year from 1985 to 1995.

[weatherfan]

And then there is the other side of the debate who says we are in the miths of a major global cooling.So once again as I have stated before No side sees eye to eye on each other in Climate change.Our climate is a very complex system and has been around way before Men was even creative.The fact is no one argures that the last dacade or so has warm.But where many experts and forecasters and climate expert don't agree on is reather it is caused by man or caused by nature cycels.Some thinks we are in major global warmng because of humans.others bleave we are in the mins of a major cold climate as Robert Filix and some like him as been stateing.It has been a proven fact that climate have change very qukey in a matter of a few decades as past ice ages and very warm perilds have showes is.My opinion is we all can have our guess and opinions on it.But really no one knows what the furture of our climate holds and the anwers.We may guess and sperlate on what possables.But right now its alot of guess work and only mother nature knows the real anwels.But the truth is we have had major ice ages and warm periolds.And if ice ages have happen before It can and will happen sooner or later.In my opinion the anwers relays on the ice and the Oceans.

[Guest]

sorry Chris most of your evidence is utter crap and mindless BS. As a professional MET that specializes in medium and long range forecasting I can assure yoiu that you have NO idea what the hell you are talking about.

The science you refer to is OLD science. It is based on old ideas that over the last 5 years have been junked on the trash heap of history but is unfortunately still used by stupid people in enviornmental groups .

You might want to check out something call RCC. Rapid Climate change.

[Anonymous]

sorry Chris most of your evidence is utter crap and mindless BS. As a professional MET that specializes in medium and long range forecasting I can assure yoiu that you have NO idea what the hell you are talking about.

The science you refer to is OLD science. It is based on old ideas that over the last 5 years have been junked on the trash heap of history but is unfortunately still used by stupid people in enviornmental groups .

You might want to check out something call RCC. Rapid Climate change.

Thanks DT for clearing this up swiftly ! Yoo are correct, this science (or whatever they call it) is very old and a product of enviormentalists. Whenever I see this sort of thing, I TOTALLY IGNORE it at all costs. No wonder I can't stand libraries and their newspapers. They're just as bad. I can't even "look in the direction" of major newspapers at all if I ever go to a library because.........they'll just piss me off with all this junk science. News magazines are just as bad. I can't stand them.

[Anonymous]

[quote="weatherfan"]And then there is the other side of the debate who says we are in the miths of a major global cooling.So once again as I have stated before No side sees eye to eye on each other in Climate change.Our climate is a very complex system and has been around way before Men was even creative.


Good point weatherfan. It is very complex. I mean heck, there are always warm/cool pools in any location on earth that vary in intensity and move about depending on the various oscillations and factors such as troughs, ridges, and their amplitude, as well as the indexes such as NAO (extent of blocking), AO, PNA, 50/50 low positioning, SOI index, QBO, solar activity, ENSO, and phasing of the different jet streams which can determine the extent of storm development/cyclogenesis in multiple locations on the planet. As to long term climate, well, it always changes. As chief meteorologist Joe Aleo once mentioned, "change is the only constant in nature..............."

Ken