NOAA makes it official: Extreme weather due to climate change

by Janet Ritz

In a report issued by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, a joint effort of more than a dozen government agencies which includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the conclusion is that the extreme weather we've been experiencing will become both more extreme and is due to climate change.

WASHINGTON - Droughts will get drier, storms will get stormier and floods will get deeper with a warming climate across North America, U.S. government experts said in a report billed as the first continental assessment of extreme events.

Events that have seemed relatively rare will become commonplace, said the latest report from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, a joint effort of more than a dozen government agencies.

This report has raised questions by those who point to this year's cooler temperatures in many parts of the world. That issue was addressed by the British Met Office's 2008 temperature prediction which cited an increased 2008 La Niña event; a cooling of a Pacific current - a periodic anomaly that was covered in this report: What's with the Weather? The La Niña-Tornado Connection.

Specific projections from the Climate Sciences report include:

* Abnormally hot d
ays and nights, along with heat waves, are very likely to become more common.
* Cold nights are very likely to become less common.
* Sea ice extent is expected to continue to decrease and may even disappear in the Arctic Ocean in summer in coming decades.
* Precipitation, on average, is likely to be less frequent but more intense.
* Droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in some regions.
* Hurricanes will likely have increased precipitation and wind.
* The strongest cold-season storms in the Atlantic and Pacific are likely to produce stronger winds and higher extreme wave heights... Continued...