| Scientists have been saying that IF three is any validity | | | | Nations, released four major reports in 2007 saying |
| to a 2012 galactic plane crossing or magnetic pole | | | | man-made global warming was incontrovertible and an |
| reversal, it would begin showing up more increasingly in | | | | urgent threat to millions of lives. Through the first 10 |
| weired weather patterns. I'd have to say that the year | | | | months, it was the hottest year recorded on land and |
| 2007 was verification that something is changing. Did | | | | the third hottest when ocean temperatures are |
| we see tremors of the coming planetary earthquake | | | | included. |
| that will shake our world immeasurably in 2007? | | | | Smashing records was common, especially in August. |
| Let's look at some statistics- maybe evidence! | | | | At U.S. weather stations, more than 8,000 new heat |
| 1-January was the warmest first month on record | | | | records were set or tied for specific August dates. |
| worldwide-1.53 degrees above normal. It was the first | | | | More remarkably that same month, more than 100 |
| time since record-keeping began in 1880 that the | | | | all-time temperature records were tied or |
| globe's average temperature has been so far above | | | | broken-regardless of the date-either for the highest |
| the norm for any month of the year. | | | | reading or the warmest low temperature at night. By |
| 2-As 2007 drew to a close, it was also shaping up to | | | | comparison only 14 all-time low temperatures were set |
| be the hottest year on record in the Northern | | | | or tied all year long, as of early December, according |
| Hemisphere. U.S. weather stations broke or tied 263 | | | | to records kept by the National Climatic Data Center. |
| all-time high temperature records, according to an | | | | More than 60 percent of the United States was either |
| Associated Press analysis of U.S. weather data. | | | | abnormally dry or suffering from drought at one point |
| England had the warmest April in 348 years of | | | | in August. |
| record-keeping there, shattering the record set in 1865 | | | | More coincidences? |
| by more than 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit. | | | | In November, Atlanta's main water source, Lake Lanier, |
| 3-There were other weird weather events as well. A | | | | shrank to an all-time low. Lake Okeechobee, crucial to |
| tornado struck New York City in August, inspiring the | | | | south Florida, hit its lowest level in recorded history in |
| tabloid headline: "This ain't Kansas!" In the Middle East, | | | | May, exposing muck and debris not seen for decades. |
| an equally rare cyclone spun up in June, hitting Oman | | | | Lake Superior, the biggest and deepest of the Great |
| and Iran. Major U.S. lakes shrank; Atlanta had to worry | | | | Lakes, dropped to its lowest August and September |
| about its drinking water supply. South Africa got its first | | | | levels in history. Los Angeles hit its driest year on |
| significant snowfall in 25 years. And on Reunion Island, | | | | record. Lakes fed by the Colorado River and which |
| 400 miles east of Africa, nearly 155 inches of rain fell in | | | | help supply water for more than 20 million Westerners, |
| three days-a world record for the most rain in 72 | | | | were only half full. |
| hours. | | | | More coincidences? |
| Strictly coincidences? | | | | Australia, already a dry continent, suffered its worst |
| Individual weather extremes can't be attributed to | | | | drought in a century, making global warming an election |
| global warming; however, "it's the run of them and the | | | | issue. On the other extreme, record rains fell in China, |
| different locations" that have the mark of man-made | | | | England and Wales. Minnesota got the worst of |
| climate change, said top European climate expert Phil | | | | everything: a devastating June and July drought |
| Jones, director of the climate research unit at the | | | | followed by record August rainfall. In one March day, |
| University of East Anglia in England. | | | | Southern California got torrential downpours, hail, snow |
| Worst of all-at least according to climate scientists-the | | | | and fierce winds. Then in the fall came devastating |
| Arctic, which serves as the world's refrigerator, | | | | fires driven by Santa Ana winds. |
| dramatically warmed in 2007, shattering records for | | | | And yet none of those events worried scientists as |
| the amount of melting ice. | | | | much as what was going on in the Arctic in the |
| Thus, 2007 seemed to be the year that climate | | | | summer. Sea ice melted not just to record levels, but |
| change shook the thermometers, and those who | | | | far beyond the previous melt record. The Northwest |
| warned that it was beginning to happen were suddenly | | | | Passage was the most navigable it had been in |
| honored. | | | | modern times. Russia planted a flag on the seabed |
| Former Vice President Al Gore's documentary "An | | | | under the North Pole, claiming sovereignty. The ice |
| Inconvenient Truth" won an Oscar and he shared the | | | | sheets that cover a portion of Greenland retreated to |
| Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on | | | | an all- time low and permafrost in Alaska warmed to |
| Climate Change, an international group of thousands of | | | | record levels. |
| scientists. The climate panel, organized by the United | | | | Coincidences, 2012 tremors, or? |