CAN WE WEATHER THE STORM?

Recently the news seems to be full of stories about the weather. All across the world there are reports of extreme weather: more powerful tornadoes and hurricanes, flooding on every continent, forest fires burn more violently in the US and on top of all this there is also an increase in the number of earthquakes and volcanic activity. Add to this the global rise in sea levels and the thaw in the Arctic ice sheets which will further affect weather patterns the future  looks shaky.

Amongst the many RSS feeds that I check daily are a number of world weather sites. Looking down the list for the last week I can see posts on a record drought in Korea, flash floods in Bangladesh and the USA is being battered by tropical storms, wildfires, droughts and floods. The US has had about every weather imaginable, Wildfires in Colorado, Violent thunder storms  have claimed lives and tropical storms in Florida and the gulf coast dropped 26 ins of rain in days.

Since the beginning of the year there have been record snow falls in Austria, Germany and France. A record cold wave killed people in Russia in January and now, in July they are facing floods. Regions in Australia have had severe drought while other parts of the country have been flooded. The UK is also experiencing floods, following behind a long period of drought.  The weather is having a serious impact upon human habitation, crop production and animal habitats, even birds migratory patterns. 

Much discussion has ensued  within the scientific community as to what the cause of the extreme weather is. Theories vary from global warming, human intervention, the magnetic poles shifting, an unknown object (planet X) is approaching from space or sunspots and solar flares are at their most powerful for 150 years and are causing the extremes. There do seem to be some strange things going on:  scientific data shows that magnetic north is now over Russia and is moving eastward at an accelerated rate. There have been unexplained groaning noises reported around the world. It is not known if these are seismic in nature or man made. There have also been hundreds of cases of mass species deaths: whole flocks/shoals have been found dead with no cause.

Dead fish are washing up on beaches

HAARP

Global warming has been monitored for a couple of decades now but despite this there is no agreement about the cause. Is it a natural phenomenon, part of the earth's natural cycle? Or is it due to human activities? Could it be because of pollution from our senseless mass production? There is also the possibility of more direct human intervention such as weather manipulation.Cloud seeding is used in some areas to increase rainfall, and then there is the mysterious HAARP program.

The High Altitude Active Auroral Research Program is capable of punching a hole in the ionosphere using high frequency radio waves. Critics of HAARP claim that it can be used to create earthquakes, tsunamis and to alter the weather. Controversy also surrounds the use of Chem-trails. Unmarked planes of unknown ownership are releasing chemicals and aluminum high in the atmosphere: because this is secretive in nature there are a lot of theories about what is going on, some are quite sinister, but it could be just another attempt to deal with climate change, given the reflective properties of some of the materials used. Nuclear accidents such as Three mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukishima, all within the lifetime of the baby boomer generation also change the weather.

A flooded festival

The cost of the weather to the economy is rising. At present, due to stockpiles of food we have not felt the effect too badly. If the extremes in weather continue, however our food supply could be affected. The wheat yield for 2012 has been affected by unusually warm, dry conditions that accelerated growth rate at a cost to the yield. Argentina's weather has gone from drought to flood, as in the UK and this has delayed the harvest of Corn and Soy. Eastern European crops have been hit by drought. It may be necessary for some areas to consider changing the crops that they grow. The problem is that accurate forecasting of future weather patterns is difficult when the mechanism for the extreme changes is unknown. Due to the increased level of ice melting in the Arctic there is a knock on effect that may lead to colder, longer winters in the northern hemisphere. Longer winters run in to spring delaying planting times.

Tornado Damage

There is cost to the infrastructure. Houses and businesses, not to mention shopping centers throughout the western world have been destroyed by floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. Transport routes both road and rail have been affected for months  isolating some areas which further hampers distribution of emergency aid. Last years US twister season was not only the worst on record there were twisters in new areas that had never had one previously. Lives are being lost more often to weather events and wildlife is also a victim. Species such as the Moose are dying out because of parasites that spread in the warmer conditions now more prevalent in  Minnesota.

The situation is an ongoing one because a solution cannot be found until the cause(s) are identified. Some scientists believe that we can engineer a solution. Let's hope that they don't make the situation worse.