Freaky weather

[skb]

Is Global Warming a myth ? I once had a discussion with a retired environmentalist who thought that it is. According to him, there have been periods of extreme weather in the history of this planet many a times. But we do see freaky weather from all parts of the world. The melting ice at both the poles is also not a fairy tale.

I was born and have spent all my life in Mumbai, India. In my growing years the temperature was a constant 31^o C on the higher side. Nowadays 40^o is very common. There are parts of India which have already seen 51^o this summer. What happens in the next decade or so if this continues.

Last year North America was battered with horrific snow storms. Europe is a large importer of fans from India now. Freaky weather is here to stay (IMO) It's not a fallacy.

In 2005, Mumbai had a cloudburst and a metre of water came down in less than 24 hours in a small area of the city. A detailed story can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharashtra_floods_of_2005
I vividly remember the events of the day. The rain started coming down at around 1:30 pm. In less than 15 minutes water started to accumulate. My office is located on the ground floor in the area that got hit the hardest. By 3:00 I had sent the female staff home. And we were busy dismantling our computers & files which needed to be placed on top of the tables for safety. By 4:00 the water was knee high and still rising. We lost all power and all telecommunications.

To cut the story short. We (5 of us) spent the night perched on top of the tables, with a few candles to help us in the darkness. It was only around 6:00 the next morning that the water started to recede. By 9:00 we started to take the long walk home (15 kms), totally drenched and wading through chest high water for some part of the way. The city was shut down completely for the next two days, and it took us quite a while to get back on to our feet. It was our Katrina.

Sorry for the  I'll be glad to hear of others experience/s as well.

 

[Rhiannon]

I definitely can tell that the climate has changed over time, and that we are experiencing extremes of weather.  Although this has happened at times in history, that doesn't mean we as humans should not be concerned.  One example is that we no longer have a fire season - instead it is fire season nearly year round.  The extreme fires we have seen are frightening and firefighters now often have to focus on containing a fire and letting it burn itself out, but don't have the massive resources necessary to put it out.  And when one fire is finally contained, no break before they rush off to do what they can for the next massive fire. 

We will continue to experience ever more weather extremes (extreme heat, extreme drought, extreme storms).  I think the fatal flaw in humans may be the refusal to change things until it is too late. 

[rocky]

yeah man lots of freaky wether all over the world. fires, floods what not. its hot as hell in the desert. cant even think of getting out in the daytime. the sunlight hurts man.