2000

■  ПОГОДНІ ЗМІНИ: В січні в лісі виросли гриби!
Січень 2000
Мешканці села Івано-Франкового, Яворівського району, на Різдво смакували святкові страви, зготовані зі свіжих грибів, які назбирали напередодні в … лісі. Відомий в селищі грибар В.Данилюк повідомив краянам, що саме в цю пору зародили гливи. Їх росту сприяла плюсова температура.

■   ПОГОДНІ ЗМІНИ: Китайців засипало снігом
2000
Мешканців столиці КНР Пекіну морозами не здивуєш, але сніг там буває рідко. Місто виявилося неготовим до густого снігопаду на початку цього тижня. Автомобільний рух на дорогах і вулицях майже завмер.

■  QUAKES: Domino Quakes
On Mar 15, 1999 ZetaTalk stated in the 1999 Predictions that domino quakes would begin, where tightly locked plates would bump one another. By June, 2000 Reuters had noted this. Domino Quakes were evident following the Aug 17, 1999 Turkey 7.4 quake, where the Prior Year were random. By the Nov 3, 2002 Alaska 7.9 quake, a Pre-Shift Adjustment pattern was evident.

■ Quakes Strike Asia But Are They Linked?
By Jason Szep, Reuters, June 9, 2000
The earth moved in Asia Thursday as powerful aftershocks rocked the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, and a series of earthquakes jolted China, Myanmar and Japan. Experts said last Sunday's quake in Indonesia's Bengkulu province, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, may have led to a shift in the huge tectonic plates deep under Asia's seas, prompting the burst of seismic activity this week. Japan was rocked by three fairly strong earthquakes this week, while China and Myanmar were each hit by two. Nearly all measured above five on the open-ended Richter scale. “It is not unusual to have a sequence of activity on a single seismic belt, some of it can be quite intense,'' said C.M. Tam of the Hong Kong Observatory, referring to the circum Pacific belt stretching from New Zealand across a wide swathe of East Asia.
Bengkulu's earthquake, which killed at least 120 people, injured some 1,300 and damaged thousands of homes and buildings, has spawned around 400 aftershocks, seismologists said. The Bengkulu earthquake, which appears to have occurred after a rupture between two key plates - the Pacific and Indian plates - may have triggered a chain reaction of seismic activity along the circum Pacific and Eurasia belts, the seismologists said. Professor Ding Jianhai of China's State Seismological Bureau said the Sumatra, Myanmar and China quakes all occurred along the Eurasia seismic belt stretching from the Mediterranean sea through the Himalayas to Indonesia. He described the belt as “very active'' and said he believed all the tremors were related. “According to our estimates, there are about average 18 earthquakes at more than seven on the Richter scale globally in a year, mainly in two belts, the Euroasia belt and the belt around the Pacific,'' he said. Aftershocks from the Bengkulu quake included a major tremor measuring 6.2 early Thursday, but most experts expect the aftershocks and other regional seismic activity to wind down steadily.
An official at Japan's Meteorological Agency said Japan has experienced about 20-30 tremors since Sunday's quake in Bengkulu, although he could not say for sure if they were linked to the Sumatran earthquake. “I think they are connected, but it is difficult to say for sure,'' he told Reuters. Japan's latest tremor struck Thursday at 9:32 a.m. (0032 GMT) on the island of Kyushu, and measured 4.9 on the Richter scale. There were no reports of damage or casualties. Wednesday, a tremor measuring 5.8 hit central Japan, injuring three people but causing no serious damage to buildings. Saturday, another earthquake measuring 5.8 swayed buildings in metropolitan Tokyo, but caused no damage. Japan sits atop the juncture of three tectonic plates, or pieces of the earth's crust. Those three plates - referred to by geologists as the Asian, Pacific and Philippine plates - have been at the heart of recent seismic activity. Katsuyuki Abe, professor at Tokyo University's Earthquake Research Institute, however, said linking quakes in Indonesia and Japan was difficult because they were so far apart.

■  CLIMATE: Faster Rate of Global Warming, NOAA reports
NOAA News Release, Feb. 22, 2000
NOAA Researchers have found evidence that indicates that the rate of global warming is accelerating and that in the past 25 years it achieved the rate previously predicted for the 21st century (2 degrees C per century). Writing in the March 1 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, Thomas R. Karl, director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., and his colleagues analyze recent temperature data. They focus particularly on the years 1997 and 1998, during which a string of 16 consecutive months saw record high global mean average temperatures. This, Karl notes, was unprecedented since instruments began systematically recording temperature in the 19th century. During much of 1998, records set just the previous year were broken. Karl and colleagues conclude that there is only a small chance that the string of record high temperatures in 1997-1998 was simply an unusual event, rather than a change point, the start of a new and faster ongoing trend. Since completing the research, the data for 1999 has been compiled. The researchers found that 1999 was the fifth warmest year on record, although as a La Niña year it would normally be cooler. Outside the band 20 degrees north latitude and 20 degrees south latitude, 1999 was the second warmest year of the 20th century, just behind 1998, an El Niño year.
The researchers at NCDC analyzed data from land based and satellite instruments for their study. Using sophisticated mathematical and probabilistic models in a series of experiments they concluded that the rate of warming since 1976 is clearly greater than the average rate over the late 19th and 20th centuries. To account for the string of record-setting temperatures, the average rate of global temperature increase since 1976 would have to be three degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit) per century. In its Second Assessment Report in 1995, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected the rate of warming for the 21st century to be between 1.0 and 3.5 degrees C. Karl and his colleagues have already observed over the past 25 years a rate that is between 2 and 3 degrees C per century. The IPCC study used a "business as usual" scenario with regard to emissions of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric constituents. Karl and his colleagues aren't ready to say for certain that the rate of global warming has suddenly increased, because they know unusual events sometimes happen. Given the steady increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases and their decades-to-centuries atmospheric residence time, he urges that studies be conducted to better understand how society can minimize the risks of climate change and prepare for more, and perhaps even more rapid changes to come.


■   OCEAN WARMING: Ocean is Warming, study finds
By John Roach, ENNNews, March 24,2000
The world ocean has experienced a net warming of 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit from the sea surface through about 10,000 feet of depth over the past 35-45 years. The upper 1,000 feet has warmed by 0.56 degrees Fahrenheit. "Although these may seem like small changes, it represents a large change in the heat content of the ocean," said Sydney Levitus, an oceanographer with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The ocean warming itself is not conclusive evidence of global warming due to human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Combined with lower atmosphere and sea surface warming over the past 100 years and the thinning and retreat of Arctic sea ice during the past 35 to 45 years, however, builds a strong case for anthropogenic global warming. "I have followed the greenhouse gas debate and part of the scientific literature on the subject. During the past year I have come to believe that part of the warming we observe in the Earth's climate system is due to increased greenhouse gases,11 said Levitus.

■    МЕТЕОРИТИ: Іспанія розгадує таємницю небесних подарунків.
2000
Іспанські вчені б'ються над розгадкою походження десятку брил льоду, що несподівано звалилися з неба впродовж останніх днів.

■    CLIMATE: Don't blame the Sun, Researchers Claim
New Scientist issue: May 6,2000
Greenhouse effect sceptics may have lost their final excuse. The Sun has been dethroned as the dominant source of climate change, leaving the finger of blame pointing at humans. A correlation between the sunspot cycle and temperatures in the northern hemisphere seemed to account for most of the wanning seen up until 1985. But new results reveal that for the past 15 years something other than the Sun - probably greenhouse emissions - has pushed temperatures higher. In 1991, Knud Lassen of the Danish Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen and his colleague Eigil Friis-Christensen found a strong correlation between the length of the solar cycle and temperature changes throughout the northern hemisphere. Initially, they used sunspot and temperature measurements from 1861 to 1989, but later found that climate records dating back four centuries supported their findings. The mysterious - and unexplained -relationship appeared to account for nearly 80 per cent of the measured temperature changes over this period. Now Lassen and astrophysicist Peter Thejll have updated the research and found that while the solar cycle still accounts for about half the temperature rise since 1900, it fails to explain a rise of 0.4 C since 1980. "The curves diverge after 1980," says Thejll, "and it's a startlingly large deviation. Something else is acting on the climate."

■     CROP FAILURE: 'Sometimes it feels like we're getting ganged up on"
By Wayne Drash, CNN.com, September 22,2000
The heavy rains unleashed by Tropical Storm Helene couldn't come at a worse time for farmers in the southeastern United States, who were finally ready to harvest after enduring a drought-stricken summer. Lots of rain is the last thing farmers need during harvest. "It's not a very good time to have this amount of rain in our state," Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin told CNN. "We just couldn't get any rain from April to almost the middle of September, and now we're at harvesting time... and it's raining," said Billy Griggs, who has farmed for 31 years. "Sometimes it feels like we're getting ganged up on." Georgia is the No. 1 producer of peanuts in the nation, producing roughly 38 percent of the nation's crop. The state also ranks third in cotton production. Farmers need dry conditions for the best crop yield, and large amounts of rain disrupt the harvesting process. The Carolinas had a good crop until a tropical storm moved through in recent days - and now forecasters predict Helene's remnants will soak the region. "These two tropical storms I think are going to put a damper on (our crops)," said Baxley, a cotton farmer in South Carolina. "As of tonight, we will have seen our second tropical storm in a week. Ifs going to hurt us yield-wise and quality-wise." He said cotton growers in drought-stricken regions of Alabama, Florida and Georgia would have the toughest time coping with Helene's rains. "It's kind of like you have a minor catastrophe," Baxley said, "and then all of a sudden something comes along and blindsides you."

■     CROP FAILURE: Fickle weather giving farmers trouble in U.S. Kelli Miller, Weather.com, July 30,2000
Sloppy, soggy weather darkened skies over nearly the entire eastern half of the United States Sunday, delivering rain from the Canadian border all the way to Texas. The rains offered a much-needed glass of water to the drought-stricken regions of the East Coast. Georgia, and several other states, saw showers and thunderstorms off and on again throughout the weekend. The National Weather Service called some of the rains "beneficial." So who doesn't want this wet weather? Fanners. Believe it or not, the same farmers who coped with devastating droughts now say they can't win. The rain they've received is either too little or too much. Recent unseasonable downpours from Maryland to Massachusetts are washing away seeds, drowning young plants and causing rot and fungus. Now farmers are hoping for sun to dry up the ground.

■     CROP FAILURE: Miserable summer spells gloom for French farmers Reuters, July 28,2000
Cereals and oilseeds crops had weathered an excessively dry spring and early summer and were on target for healthy, if not record production in 2000. Harvesting had only just begun when freak storms lashed the north of the country on July 2 and 3, downing power lines and damaging crops. Farmers reported wheat crops completely flattened by hail and rapeseed fields had turned white as violent winds split open stems. Persistent rains, which dampened the country's expensive Bastille Day celebrations, have since prevented growers from bringing in their already mature crops. "The problem is when it pours down on mature cereals," said a Paris analyst, noting that part of the wheat crop had started to sprout, a phenomenon which causes enzyme changes and reduces the baking value of milling wheat.

■      EARTHQUAKES: Quakes Strike Asia But Are They Linked?
By Jason Szep, Reuters, June 9,2000
The earth moved in Asia Thursday as powerful aftershocks rocked the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, and a series of earthquakes jolted China, Myanmar and Japan. Experts said last Sunday's quake in Indonesia's Bengkulu province, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, may have led to a shift in the huge tectonic plates deep under Asia's seas, prompting the burst of seismic activity this week. Japan was rocked by three fairly strong earthquakes this week, while China and Myanmar were each hit by two. Nearly all measured above five on the open-ended Richter scale. "It is not unusual to have a sequence of activity on a single seismic belt, some of it can be quite intense," said CM. Tarn of the Hong Kong Observatory, referring to the Pacific belt. Bengkulu's earthquake, which killed at least 120 people, injured some 1,300 and damaged thousands of homes and buildings, has spawned around 400 aftershocks, seismologists said. The Bengkulu earthquake, which appears to have occurred after a rupture between two key plates - the Pacific and Indian plates - may have triggered a chain reaction of seismic activity along the circum Pacific and Eurasia belts, the seismologists said. Professor Ding Jianhai of China's State Seismological Bureau said the Sumatra, Myanmar and China quakes all occurred along the Eurasia seismic belt stretching from the Mediterranean sea through the Himalayas to Indonesia. He described the belt as "very active" and said he believed all the tremors were related. "According to our estimates, there are about average 18 earthquakes at more than seven on the Richter scale globally in a year, mainly in two belts, the Euroasia belt and the belt around the Pacific," he said. Aftershocks from the Bengkulu quake included a major tremor measuring 6.2 early Thursday, but most experts expect the aftershocks and other regional seismic activity to wind down steadily. An official at Japan's Meteorological Agency said Japan has experienced about 20-30 tremors since Sunday's quake in Bengkulu, although he could not say for sure if they were linked to the Sumatran earthquake. "I think they are connected, but it is difficult to say for sure," he told Reuters. Japan's latest tremor struck Thursday at 9:32 a.m. (0032 GMT) on the island of Kyushu, and measured 4.9 on the Richter scale. There were no reports of damage or casualties. Wednesday, a tremor measuring 5.8 hit central Japan, injuring three people but causing no serious damage to buildings. Saturday, another earthquake measuring 5.8 swayed buildings in metropolitan Tokyo, but caused no damage.

■     CROP FAILURE: Poland's Low Grain Output to Boost Imports, Prices
Reuters, July 31,2000
Poland's grain harvest this year will suffer more than expected from bad weather in the past few months, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said in a long-awaited output forecast released on Monday. If the forecasts prove true, Poland will have to import more grains this year and food prices will be underpinned during the next few months, analysts said. GUS said grain output was likely to shrink to 20.5-21.5 million tonnes in 2000, down by between 14.3 and 18.3 percent compared with 1999, more than the previously expected 10 percent decline. GUS also said in its preliminary harvest estimates that rapeseed output would drop by between 24.9 and 33.7 percent in 2000 to around 750,000 to 850,000 tonnes.

■     CROP FAILURE: Russia's grain shortage amounts to 10 million tones
Associated Press, Jan. 21,2000
MOSCOW- Russia faces a grain shortage of 10 million metric tones this year, including 1.5 million metric tones of food grain and 8.5 million metric tones of fodder, the country's top agricultural official said Friday. Russia's grain reserves are still recovering from the poor 1998 harvest, the worst in four decades, and Moscow has asked the United States and the European Union for food and grain aid. But Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Shcherbak stressed that Russia's government had no plans to borrow money to finance foreign grain and food aid. He claimed that apart from the U.S. Agricultural Department, the rest of the U.S. administration opposes food aid. "The State Department opposes the idea and so do other ministries. The issue still remains open," Shcherbak said. The United States did approve sending 200,000 tones of food and 300,000 tons of grain for free, which could arrive in March provided the documents are signed this month, he said.

■     CROP FAILURE: Russian Grain Shortage Could Reach 10 Million Tones
Interfax Food and Agriculture Report, June 7,2000
Russia will face a grain shortage of б million to 10 million tones in the new farm year (July 1,2000 to June 30,2001), the president of the Grain Union said. The state of the grain market shows that Russia "will not manage without imports" so the country "should not wait for a crisis, but immediately take steps to stimulate grain imports throughout the year," Alexander Yukish said at a Tuesday round-table discussion on grain supplies at the Chamber of Trade and Industry.

■     CROP FAILURE:
2000
By 2000 floods were devastating crops in Asia, while a World Drought was devastating crops in Africa, Europe, and the Balkans, resulting in Civil Unrest and Violence while shortages in Wheat loomed. By 2000 the Cornbelt, Hawaii, Texas, the West, North Dakota, the Midwest, New England, Fisheries, the Southeast, and the Apple Harvest suffered weather related shortages. In 2000, plagues and blights had affected crops in the US. In 2001 matters had not changed per reports on England, the Midwest, El Salvador, Africa, Central America.

■     CROP FAILURE: Flood Damage in Central, Eastern Russia Estimated at Millions of Dollars
Associated Press, August 3,2000
Floods from heavy rains damaged hundreds of homes and ruined crops in central and eastern Russia, causing millions of rubles (dollars) in losses, officials said Thursday. In the central Russian region of Ryazan, heavy rains Wednesday damaged more than 780 apartment buildings and administrative buildings, and flooded large tracts of farmland, the regional Emergency Situations Center said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Losses caused by the flooding in Ryazan were estimated at 490 million rubles (dlrs 18 million), ITAR-Tass said. Flooding washed out farmland and inundated hundreds of homes in the Far Eastern region of Primorye earlier this week. The damage was estimated at 37 million rubles (dlrs 1.3 million), ITAR-Tass said.

■      CROP FAILURE: Bad Weather Threatens Ukraine 2000 Grain Crop
Reuters, Feb. 14, 2000
Agriculture Minister Ivan Kyrylenko told reporters at the weekend that hard-up Soviet-era collective farms were extremely vulnerable to changes in the weather, and even minor frosts or a drought might cut the crop significantly.... "Unfortunately, our outlook for 2000 is not favourable." He did not give a revised crop forecast for the 1999/2000 season. The ministry said last month farms would be able to harvest 26 to 28 million tonnes of grain and might even reach 35 million tonnes if the weather was good. Ukraine harvested 24.37 million tonnes of grain last year, the lowest crop since 1945. "Our optimistic forecast is 24-26 million tonnes of grain this season, but we are ready to cut it at any moment," said Serhiy Feofilov, director of UkrAgroConsult agricultural consultancy. Officials, who blamed the meagre 1999 crop on bad weather, are now worried by a possible repeat of last year's troubles and weather experts share their concerns.... Analysts and officials say a large area sown to winter crops had been already hit by bad weather and about 1.5 million hectares needed to be resown. Farmers sowed a total of 7.9 million hectares to winter crop last autumn.

■     CROP FAILURE: Rainstorms in Ukraine Cut Power Across the Country
Associated Press, July 15,2000
Heavy rainstorms and strong winds battered Ukraine over the past two days and left about 1,000 villages in eight Ukrainian regions without electricity, emergency officials said Saturday. Rainstorms severely damaged crops, flooded houses and caused several landslides in western Ukraine. Last week, rain and hail cut electricity supplies to more than 800 Ukrainian settlements, damaged thousands of houses and public buildings and destroyed crops in six western regions.

■     DROUGHT: Number of Drought Victims Soars Around Globe Reports WFP
UN World Food Programme (WFP), August 8,2000
The number of people being fed by the UN World Food Programme due to drought has more than quadrupled in the last four years, the food aid organisation said today. WFP reports that more than 100 million people in over 20 countries currently suffer the effects of drought and that the number of affected people the agency now feeds has soared to 16 million this year, from just three million in 1996. "We've seen an incredible increase in drought induced hardship over the last decade," said Francesco Strippoli, WFFs Senior Humanitarian Advisor. "Today, we're literally working in every part of the world to provide emergency food aid to people who have lost their crops or livelihoods due to drought." The Horn of Africa remains in the grip of a severe drought with more than 16 million people facing severe food shortages. Kenya, alone, is suffering from one of its worst droughts in recorded history. With a national maize requirement estimated at 3.21 million tons, the country will need to import some 1.4 million tons over the next year. The devastating drought in Central Asian countries including Afghanistan and Tajikistan has spread to the Caucasus, where between 55 and 60 percent of crops in Armenia's mountain regions are at risk of damage. Drought is currently plaguing countries in Central America and the Caribbean. Crop losses of maize and beans in Honduras are estimated to be between 80 and 90%. The Ministry of Agriculture in Nicaragua reports that the crop losses in the 41 municipalities hardest hit by the drought are 53% of what was planted. In Haiti, drought has destroyed at least 33% of the current harvest. Other countries seriously affected by drought include the Middle Eastern countries of Jordan, Syria and Iran. Over the 1990s, WFFs drought-related emergency operations represented 53% of the agency's total responses to natural disasters. The number of drought-related emergencies over this period amounted to 102. This was more than 50 percent higher than food emergencies caused by floods, the next highest percentage. This is an increase of nine percent compared to 1995. Taking into account the steadily increasing global emergency requirements, drought-specific resource requirements have more than doubled in 2000. In three of WFP's most extensive operations - in Ethiopia, Kenya and Afghanistan - the aid agency is currently spending more than $352 million to feed some 12 million people.
■     CROP FAILURE: Locust Swarms Settle on Crops in Southern Siberia
Associated Press, July 4,2000
Swarms of locusts have settled on more than 12,000 hectares (29,000 acres) of farmland in southern Siberia and are devouring grain crops, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Tuesday. About 100 hectares (250 acres) were fully destroyed, the report said, and authorities have begun dusting crops with pesticide from the air.

■      ECONOMY: Major Central Banks Intervene to Shore up Ailing Euro
Associated Press, September 22,2000
The European Central Bank and its U.S. and Japanese counterparts jointly intervened in the currency markets Friday in an attempt to shore up the ailing euro, the ECB announced. The ECB, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan acted because they were worried that the persistent weakness of the 11-nation European currency could hurt the global economy, the statement said. "On the initiative of the European Central Bank, monetary authorities of the United States
and Japan joined with the European Central Bank in concerted intervention in exchange markets because of their shared concern about the potential implications of recent movements in the euro exchange rates for the world economy," the statement said. An ECB spokesman refused to give figures for what amount of euros the central banks bought or any other details of the intervention.

■     HIGH TIDES: Tidal Waves Leave Thousands Homeless in Philippines
Discovery News, Jan 26,2000
At least 5,150 people were left homeless and dozens injured by massive waves that swept over the remote southern Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi on Tuesday. Before the 65-foot waves hit, many local residents in the stricken coastal villages were able to flee to higher ground after local fishermen sounded the alert. The Tawi-Tawi communities of Matata and Ungos, 671 miles south of Manila, were severely battered by the rampaging waves. Scores of people were injured as they escaped.Hundreds of traditional stilt houses in the region were leveled by the waves that struck just after midnight. At least 150 homes in the island towns of Sapa-Sapa and Simunol were also destroyed. Officials reported that there were no indications of how the huge waves were generated.

■     ПЛАНЕТА X: Сенсація галактичного маштабу!
2000
З'явилося офіційне підтвердження існування 10-і планети Сонячної системи, орбіта якої знаходиться за орбітою Плутона. Навколо Сонця вона робить один оберт за б мільйонів земних років. Рухається це небесне тіло не так, як всі інші "доні" Сонця. Це сенсаційне повідомлення британських астрономів коментує астроном, доктор фізико-математичних наук, академік, професор Іван Климишин. "Це небесне тіло - не комета. Це планета в декілька разів більша за Юпітер. Оскільки вона міститься дуже далеко від Сонця, а її зміщення на тлі зірок дуже мале, той виявити такий не надто яскравий об'єкт дуже важко. Хоча про відкриття 10-ї планети мовилося ще 1987 року. Як відомо всі планети Сонячної системи рухаються проти годинникової стрілки, ця ж планета обертається в протилежному напрямі. Мабуть ця "блудна вівця" відбилася від якоїсь зорі і блукала в космосі, доки не потрапила в зону сонячного тяжіння".


■     HIGH TIDES: Freak Tide Submerges Bangladeshi Community
Discovery Earth Alert, Aug. 31,2000
A freak high tide submerged an entire island community off the coast of Bangladesh beneath 6 feet of sea water for nearly three hours on Wednesday. Nearly 10,000 people on Sandwip Island were forced to rush to cyclone shelters as the water gushed into their homes. Golam Rabbani, a disaster management official, reported that the victims, who were mostly fishermen, moved to the shelters built on higher ground. Although the tide began to recede after three hours, a flood protection embankment constructed around the island prevented the water from flowing back out. The country's meteorological office reported that the unusually high tide had been triggered by a depression over the Bay of Bengal that caused the sea to rise. The area is located off the coast of southeast Bangladesh near the city of Chittagong.

■     HIGH TIDES: Florida Mystery Waves Blamed On Meteorite Impact
By Milt Salamon, Florida Today, September 5,2000
Td be willing to bet that if you had die weather maps of the Atlantic Ocean on those days, you'd find no wave-generating storm off Africa," wrote Gene Floersch of Melbourne Beach. He was referring to a suggested cause of the mysterious huge waves we've been writing about. They suddenly invaded the beach north of Fort Lauderdale on a clear, sunny, wind-free day in early March 1962 and frightened onlookers. "Any storm powerful enough to send waves clear across the Atlantic would have affected the whole Florida coastline ... and would also have first devastated the Bahama Islands," Gene said. However, he added, "there was a more recent incident of mystery waves' that did hit Daytona Beach on an evening when the sea was flat, swamping beach-parked cars and scaring a lot of tourists at the boardwalk. Officials claimed these waves were generated by a'sand slide' out on the continental shelf, but there was no geological activity registered by seismic sensors along the east coast. "Some weeks later a local news channel ran a report about the operators of a shrimp boat off the coast witnessing a huge splash in the distance and then almost being swamped by massive swells. "I believe the waves in both cases were caused by meteor impacts at sea."

■    WEATHER CHANGES: The Dangers of Climate Change
BBC News, August 7,2000
Global warming may have played a part in floods in India that have destroyed the homes of millions of people and claimed hundreds of lives. The devastating floods were triggered by heavy monsoon rains, which caused the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries to burst their banks. This is the second flood disaster in east India in two years; last year 30,000 people died after a massive cyclone hit the east Indian state of Orissa. The past month has also seen lethal floods in China, Brazil and Russia. And earlier this year hundreds of thousands of people were stranded by floods that killed 48 people in Mozambique. At the same time, east Africa and Ethiopia are struggling through one of the worst droughts in living memory. Bizarre global weather over the past two years has fuelled speculation that global warming is beginning to destabilise the Earth's climate. A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme, or Unep, said there was "little doubt that climate change is a major factor in making natural disasters nightly news". But there are other factors involved; massive deforestation in many parts of the world has made way for new human settlements in flood-prone areas. There is also the influence of the El Nino effect, a periodic weather disturbance which can lead to hot, dry weather in one part of the world, and heavy downpours and floods in another. No single event can be ascribed to global warming. Some researchers still doubt that human activities are inducing rapid climate change. They highlight the inconsistencies between the temperature records taken at the Earth's surface, which show rapid warming over the last two decades, and the data produced by satellite and balloon studies. These show little if any wanning of the low to mid-troposphere - the atmospheric layer extending up to about 8km from the Earth's surface. Climate models generally predict that temperatures should increase in the upper air as well as at the surface if increased concentrations of greenhouse gases are causing the wanning seen at the surface.

■     WEATHER CHANGES: Snow in Boston!
April 26,2000
"I live less than ten miles north of Boston. The tulips are up; the forsythia is dropping its yellow flowers for green leaves; the flox is out; the azaleas are flowering; the daffodils are in bloom; and it's snowing! I got up at six this morning and if s still going at quarter to nine as I write - coming down at a pretty good clip, too. It's sticking to the grass and bushes and somewhat to the sidewalks and roads. The forecast for today was rain and temperatures in the upper forties or low fifties. No warning of this from the weather service".

■     WEATHER CHANGES: Early Antarctic Chill Invades Australia
Discovery Earth Alert, May 31,2000
At least two people in eastern Australia were killed during the weekend in accidents triggered by one of the worst cold spells in living memory. Both victims were crushed by falling trees laden with snow. Although it is officially still autumn, the cold front spread across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Snow fell less than 60 miles from the city of Melbourne for the fust time in 25 years. Temperatures in Brisbane fell 50 degrees Fahrenheit below the seasonal average for May. Flooding and fallen trees continued to wreak havoc in southeastern Australia on Tuesday, and black ice and snow also remained a problem. The bitter cold caused demands for gas and electricity to reach record levels for the third consecutive day. Ski resort operators were thrilled about the possibility of an extended snow season. Victoria's Falls Creek got 12-18 inches of snowfall. Falls Creek spokeswoman Debbie Howie said, "This is the biggest snowfall at this time of the year since 1968." She reported that the resort would open two weeks earlier than usual.

■     WEATHER CHANGES: Snowstorms in France
Associated Press, June 11,2000
Snowstorms in southeastern France left some areas covered in up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) of snow. Six people had to be rescued by helicopter Sunday morning from the Pyrenees mountains, according to the French television station, LCI. In northeastern France, dozens of villages were affected by heavy hail and snowstorms. Traffic was slowed in the area and certain roads remained covered with mud from storms the day before.

■     WEATHER CHANGES: Swiss Alpine Passes get Midsummer Snow
Associated Press, July 11,2000
Even as Southeastern Europe suffered from a heat wave and wildfires, an unusual cold snap has brought snow to Switzerland's Alpine passes, officials said Tuesday. The San Bernardino pass in southern Switzerland was closed Tuesday morning to allow snowplows to clear about 20 kilometers (12 miles) of road, the motorists association Touring Club Suisse said. On other passes cars had to use chains. Freezing temperatures in the mountains meant snow would continue to fall above 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), forecasters said. At lower elevations across Switzerland temperatures averaged an unseasonably cool 13 degrees centigrade (55 Fahrenheit) Tuesday, said Saskia Willemse of MeteoSuisse.In the Balkans some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the southeast, meanwhile, a heat wave was expected to peak around 43 degrees (109 Fahrenheit) by Wednesday. Firefighters in Greece have had to battle more than 100 wildfires sparked by the prolonged heat wave.

■     WEATHER CHANGES: Southern Brazil Sees Snowfall
Discovery Earth Alert, July 14,2000
The first significant snowfall in 16 years blanketed streets and rooftops in parts of southern Brazil this week, delighting children who built their first-ever snowmen. The snow, which began late Tuesday, fell in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, forcing officials to close all schools. Many roads were left impassable. Temperatures fell by more than 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the semitropical cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo this week. Residents who were enjoying 95 degrees Fahrenheit weather several days ago suddenly found themselves hit by the cold front.

■     НЕВРОЖАЙ: На Україну насувається посуха.
18-25 травня 2000
Цьогорічна посуха, як прогнозують, буде найтривалішою за останні роки. Останнього тижня біля Києва горіли 2 гектари лісів і трав. На даний час зафіксовано вже близько тисячі лісових пожеж і пожеж в сільськогосподарських угіддях. Подекуди займаються торф'яники. І, судячи з усього, ситуація тільки погіршуватиметься. Вже нині як про доконаний факт можна говорити про посуху на 1/3 території України. Найбільше потерпають південний та центральний регіони. Все ц є негативно позначиться на цьогорічному врожаї. Прикро, але найближчим часом опадів, очевидно, не буде. На заході країни опади можуть розпочатися 20-20 травня, тоді як в інших регіонах більш-менш ефективних дощів взагалі не прогнозується. Синоптики вважають, що дощі випадуть не раніше як у червні.

■    СОНЯЧНА АКТИВНІСТЬ: Рік Активного Сонця.
2000
Надворі знову шалена спека. І втекти від неї не вдається ні в місті, ні за містом. 'Такого ще не було", - кажуть старожили, і в це важко не повірити. Що ж коїться з нашим сонцем? Наскільки безпечно тепер засмагати? Упередження перше: "цього року сонячні промені особливо шкідливі, бо 2000 рік - це рік максимальної активності Сонця". Насправді важко судити ввійшли ми в пік сонячної активності, чи вже його пережили. 23-й цикл сонячної активності розпочався в кінці 1996 року і триватиме орієнтовно до 2001. Наприклад в 1999 році на Сонці спостерігалося більше спалахів, ніж в попередні роки. Цьогоріч ми теж живемо в максимумі сонячної активності, щомісяця на Сонці фіксується в середгьому до 10 спалахів. ...Ще одне упередження: "сильний спалах сонячної активності, зафіксований 6 червня, означає, що нове тисячоліття доведеться зустріти в темряві, з мертвими мобільними телефонами, а кораблі і літаки, які орієнтуються за допомогою супутників, повернуться до стародавніх карт", - ось про такі страшки-жашки йшлося на з'їзді Американського астрономічного товариства. Про сонячний спалах б червня повідомили всі мас-медіа. Не менш потужний спалах повторився 8 і 11 червня. "Наслідки таких потужних вибухів іоносфера Землі може відчувати впродовж 2-х тижнів і більше", -вважає співробітник астрономічної обсерваторії КНУ Шевченка С. Мусатенко. Якщо цими днями ваш мобільний телефон відмовляється приймати сигнал, а улюблена радіостанція на коротких хвилях не подає жодних ознак існування - це вина Сонця. Великий викид сонячних частинок може виводити з ладу супутники, які навіть сходять з орбіти.

■    ПОГОДНІ ЗМІНИ: Худобу випасають вночі.
2000
Селяни Буського району знову потерпають від в'їдливої мошки (таке вже було торік). Через різке потепління і брак снігового покриву вже в січні вона мала сприятливі умови для розмноження біля водойм. В селі Соколі через укуси мошки зарізано вже 4 телички. До районного дермовенеролога все частіше звертаються покусані комахами мешканці Надбужжя. Лікуватися треба щонайменше тиждень. Ховаючись відроїв мошки, сокільці випасають корів вночі, палять на вигонах димокурні вогнища. За прогнозами мошка докучатиме бужанам до кінця другої декади травня.

■    ПОВЕНІ, ЗСУВИ ГРУНТУ: Дощі несуть в Альпи горе і смерть.
2000
Тисячі людей були змушені покинути свої домівки в Італії і Швейцарії, втікаючи від повені і зсувів фунту, внаслідок яких загинуло вже 25 осіб. Ще як мінімум 21 особу, живцем поховану під водою чи під землею, марно намагаються розшукати. Зливи, які почалися минулого тижня, вщухають. Навколо Турину і Мілану - а це індустріальне серце країни - а також в інших районах перервано рух транспорту, припинено подачу електроенергії. Зупинено навіть три заводи концерну FIAT.

■    ПОГОДНІ ЗМІНИ: У Львові знову цвітуть каштани!
Жовтень 2000
На перехресті вулиці Лінкольна і Замарстинівської зацвів каштан. Вся річ в дуже теплій осені. Бруньки дерева набрали "активних" температур, що й спричинило цвітіння. Крім каштану в Львівському ботанічному саді зацвіла айва польська. Наприкінці 70-х таке вже було. Тоді восени зацвіла майже половина всіх каштанів міста.

■    ПОГОДНІ ЗМІНИ: Скільки триватиме бабине літо?
2-9 листопада 2000
Як це не парадоксально, але т. зв. бабине літо мало розпрощатися з нами ще два тижні тому. Проте, всупереч прогнозам, така нетипова для нашого дощового краю суха осінь і надалі тішить галичан. Виявляється, така ж тепла погода була зафіксована на Львівщині в 1949,1961,1962 і 1977 роках. Цьогорічну теплу погоду завдячуємо Сибірському і Ісландському антициклонам, які з початку жовтня "зависли" над Львівщиною. Вони й заважали вологому повітрю Атлантики пробитися в наші краї.

■     WEATHER CHANGES: In 2000 Britain had the heaviest rainfall since records began.

■     ВІРУСИ: 2000
В Нью-Йорку знову зафіксовано спалах Лихоманки Західного Нілу. Померло 47 людей.

■    WEATHER CHANGES: Why has our weather gone wild?
Discover Magazine, June 2000
Globally, insurance companies are calling it a "catastrophe trend/1 In a report issued last December, Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, or insurer of insurance companies, noted that the number of natural disasters has increased more than fourfold since the 1950s. Earthquakes, which are not weather-related, caused nearly half the deaths in those catastrophes; storms, floods, and other weather woes killed the other half. In 1999, the number of catastrophes worldwide - including mud slides in Venezuela, a severe hailstorm in Sydney, avalanches in the Alps, Denmark's worst winter storm in a century, floods in Latin America and Southeast Asia, Cyclone Bart in Japan and Cyclone 05-B in India - hit 755, surpassing the record of 702 set only the year before. Still, the statistics meteorologists have collected on extreme weather events aren't enough to prove that the weather is getting worse. By their very definition, extreme events happen infrequently, and no one has been collecting scientifically sound data long enough to know how common they are. For example, a storm that happens once a century might require two millennia's worth of storm data to draw conclusions. To top it off, the computer models scientists use to study climate crunch numbers on a scale of centuries at a time. "Ideally, you'd like data sets that go back several hundred years," says Philip Arkin, deputy director of the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York. "But they just don't exist. The U.S. data go back 50 years. Before World War II, it's very difficult to come up with good numbers. We have some data on heavy rain events before 1900, but there's nothing useful."

■   ПОГОДНІ ЗМІНИ: В Україні потепліло на найближчі 30 років
30 листопада - 7 грудня 2000
Погода продовжує збивати нас з пантелику. Минув листопад, а сніг мешканці більшості регіонів України побачили лише минулого тижня. Наразі навіть нічна температура дуже рідко опускається нижче нульової позначки. Що ж діється з кліматом? На це питання відповідає В. Ф. Мартазинова, керівник відділу довготермінових прогнозів - Починаючи з 1977 року кліматична система Землі переживає другий період глобального потепління (перший завершився в 1944). Відтак і українські науковці фіксують підвищення середньорічних температур. Зими стали теплішими в середньому на 2 градуси, а літо похолодніло на один градус. Режим клімату формується завдяки великомаштабній атмосферній циркуляції в Північній півкулі. А вона за останні десятиріччя зазнала суттєвих змін. Скажімо раніше взимку клімат в Україні залежав від впливу сибірського антициклону з-над Тянь-Шаню. В останні десятиріччя він накриває тільки східну частину нашої країни. В інших регіонах України панівне становище займає відріг азорського антициклону, який є відносно сухою і теплою субтропічною повітряною масою. Відтак зими стали теплими, з значною позитивною аномалією температур і опадами переважно у вигляді дощу і мокрого снігу. Така зміна клімату має екологічні і економічні наслідки. Взимку дуже змінюється гідрологічний режим. Через те, що грунт не промерзає, опади у вигляді дощу і мокрого снігу просочуються в нього, підвищуючи рівень ґрунтових вод до критичного рівня. Через часті потепління відбувається передчасна вегетація рослин. Справжнім лихом стають сильний вітер, шквали, град. Спостерігаються чсаті і тривалі посухи. Сьогоднішній період потепління триватиме ще 5-10 років, після чого слід очікувати 30-річний перехідний період, під час якого суттєвих змін не буде.