China's Freezing Winter Follows Record Warm Winter In 06-07 - Swings Sign Of Things To Come - AFP

[hatrack]

BEIJING (AFP) — Don't tell the thousands of Chinese stuck at railway stations or airports, but the chaos caused by a vicious cold spell afflicting much of China could be just a taste of things to come, experts say. The inclement weather and ensuing problems merely highlight the country's increasing vulnerability to the extreme weather swings characteristic of global climate change, experts say, and is likely to be repeated in future years.

Vast areas of central and southern China have experienced the most severe winter in half a century in the past few days, coming on the heels of one of the warmest winters on record last year. With climate change gaining pace and the planet generally warming up, the social, economic and political impact on China will rise along with the mercury, experts said. "As a developing country where the vast majority live in poor circumstances, China is unusually vulnerable to this," said Paul Harris, a professor at Hong Kong's Lingnan University, who studies the social impact of climate change.

"But what we've clearly seen this week is the inability of the government to cope with such extreme events." There is no way to prove climate change is to blame for the extreme cold snap, but some Chinese government scientists see no other explanation for the wild temperature swings, particularly in the areas that have become accustomed recently to mild winters.

"There is no doubt (climate change is to blame) for such weather events," Wang Qiwei, a climatologist with the China Meteorological Administration, wrote in an online forum set up to answer public questions about the cold weather.

EDIT

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWcyJhBNoCQmUovDITx37X-bloeg

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

1. This is crap. We have cold years,we have warm years. It's happened since

weather records have been kept.

No big deal.

[hatrack]

2. Whatever.

nt

[Systematic Chaos]

3. Go back to the Hillary/Obama battle royale please.

kthxbai

See you again when you've actually learned something. :eyes:

[kestrel91316]

4. YEAH!!!!11!11!!!!!!1 And there's nothing the least bit unusual about

Alaskan permafrost melting and the polar ice melting and Greenland melting and the WAIS melting. And the increasing droughts are just made up by the LIBRULLL MEDIA!!!!!1!!!!!11!!

[tom_paine]

5. You came to the wrong forum to spread manure like that. Maybe it might work better in GD

but not here.

Most people who find there way to this forum are here because we have STUDIED the environent, studies the pros and cons, and whatever our conclusions even when we disagree, they are bound bythe fact that most of the time they come from STUDY of the problem.

And I am sorry, but anyone who makes a statement like, "We have cold years,we have warm years. It's happened since weather records have been kept. No big deal," hasn't studied much of anything regarding the environment.

I would ask you to flesh out your response, to tell me the underlying reasoning behind your statement, but you and I both know there is none.

Just the usual throwaway line with nothing behind it. As I said, that may and does work amoung the uninformed or misinformed, but you are in the worng place to find that kind of crowd.

Now, before you wax poetic about how Global Warming is like religion or any other of the nonsense throwaway lines the MSM has taught you to parrot, don't bother. It is not your "hypothesis", if what you said could be called that, but the absolute lack of reason to bolster your "hypothesis".

So, if you want to spout unfounded nonsense cookie-cutter lines that you didn't think of yourself, go right ahead, but it is a mistake to do so in a crowd of informed people.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Well, that's true, but it's not the whole story

Here's a graph which may help you understand:



This shows annual fluctuations in Central Park in NYC in the 20th century. Red years are warmer than average, blue years are colder than average.

As you say, "We have cold years, we have warm years." Even the 5 year average wanders up and down. However, as the graph wanders, you should see that the "cold years" nowadays are warmer than they used to be.

I (for one) am tired of hearing the people around me complain about how cold it is; I keep saying to them, "This is January!" My memories of January were of it being so cold it actually hurt!