Warmest Winter Makes Nature Run Amok in Europe

Warmest Winter Makes Nature Run Amok in Europe


Europe's warmest winter on record has seem nature running amok with
such anomalies as wheat crops being planted a month in advance,
markets bursting with prematurely ripened produce, and animals
migrating too soon or not at all, the Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported Friday, quoting experts across the continent.

With average temperatures from December through February more than 2
degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above average in most
European countries, the environment's biological clock has been thrown
off kilter, according to the AFP report.

In Italy, which is emerging from its mildest winter in more than two
centuries vegetables not normally seen until later in the season such
as green beans, asparagus, peas, artichokes, are already in such
abundance that merchants can't sell them, according to Bologna's
Institute for Atmospheric Science and Climate, the report said.

In the Netherlands, where winter wheat has been sown a month earlier
than normal, scientists worry that unseasonably high temperatures will
increase the risk of grain plant viruses caused by aphids.

AFP also reported that in neighboring Germany, half of barley crops
in some regions have been hit with a weather-related blight of yellow
dwarf disease, carried by fleas that do not normally survive the
winter.

The Dutch nature observatory Natuurkalender has reported the
"chaotic" disruption of normal butterfly lifecycles, with many species
emerging their the cocoons far too early.

Woodpeckers and swallows have likewise arrived a month ahead of
schedule, they observed.

AFP said that in Austria, toads in the region of Styria began their
spring migration to summer ponds at least 15 days early, catching off
guard and unprepared environmentalists, who last year shepherded
thousands of the amphibians across motorways to safety.

In Sweden temperatures at midweek stood at 10 C (50 F) compared to
-10 C (14 F) the same time last year. Elsewhere in Scandinavia,
melting snows and pollen in January have heralded an untimely spring.

The report said this flurry of alarming observations from across
Europe have come amid predictions by climatologists and weather
forecasters that record warm weather is likely to continue through the
spring, and perhaps into the summer as well.

"The average temperature for the three months of Spring (March,
April, May) will be above normal," AFP quoted French climatologist
Michel Schneider as saying, though he did not rule out the possibility
of a cold snap or two.

Earlier in the year, climate change experts at Britain's Met Office
forecast that 2007 would likely be the warmest on record around the
world, breaking the record set in 1998.

In France, looking further into the future, the state-run weather
service predicts that the number of full-fledged summer heat waves --
similar to the one in 2003 that left 15,000 French people dead -- will
increase tenfold starting in 2070.

The observations also coincide with a report released Thursday by the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stating that this
winter was the warmest for the entire Northern Hemisphere since it
began keeping records 128 years ago.

In Spain, high temperatures and strong winds have already fanned a
series of fires around Barcelona in the northeast, and in Valencia
further south.

And in Greece, agricultural authorities are already forecasting a
difficult year due to drought in the bread-basket grain area of
Thessaly.

AFP quoted a United Nations study last month as saying that human
activity was almost certain to blame for global warming and warned
that the Earth's average surface temperature could rise between 1.1
and 6.4 degrees by 2100.

AFP said that in Austria, toads in the region of Styria began their
spring migration to summer ponds at least 15 days early, catching off
guard and unprepared environmentalists, who last year shepherded
thousands of the amphibians across motorways to safety.

sounds like dangerous activity for a bunch of misguided bleeding heart
assholes.

no need for more copy and paste !!

"TC" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
Warmest Winter Makes Nature Run Amok in Europe


Europe's warmest winter on record has seem nature running amok with
such anomalies as wheat crops being planted a month in advance,
markets bursting with prematurely ripened produce, and animals
migrating too soon or not at all, the Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported Friday, quoting experts across the continent.

With average temperatures from December through February more than 2
degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above average in most
European countries, the environment's biological clock has been thrown
off kilter, according to the AFP report.

In Italy, which is emerging from its mildest winter in more than two
centuries vegetables not normally seen until later in the season such
as green beans, asparagus, peas, artichokes, are already in such
abundance that merchants can't sell them, according to Bologna's
Institute for Atmospheric Science and Climate, the report said.

In the Netherlands, where winter wheat has been sown a month earlier
than normal, scientists worry that unseasonably high temperatures will
increase the risk of grain plant viruses caused by aphids.

AFP also reported that in neighboring Germany, half of barley crops
in some regions have been hit with a weather-related blight of yellow
dwarf disease, carried by fleas that do not normally survive the
winter.

The Dutch nature observatory Natuurkalender has reported the
"chaotic" disruption of normal butterfly lifecycles, with many species
emerging their the cocoons far too early.

Woodpeckers and swallows have likewise arrived a month ahead of
schedule, they observed.

AFP said that in Austria, toads in the region of Styria began their
spring migration to summer ponds at least 15 days early, catching off
guard and unprepared environmentalists, who last year shepherded
thousands of the amphibians across motorways to safety.

In Sweden temperatures at midweek stood at 10 C (50 F) compared to
-10 C (14 F) the same time last year. Elsewhere in Scandinavia,
melting snows and pollen in January have heralded an untimely spring.

The report said this flurry of alarming observations from across
Europe have come amid predictions by climatologists and weather
forecasters that record warm weather is likely to continue through the
spring, and perhaps into the summer as well.

"The average temperature for the three months of Spring (March,
April, May) will be above normal," AFP quoted French climatologist
Michel Schneider as saying, though he did not rule out the possibility
of a cold snap or two.

Earlier in the year, climate change experts at Britain's Met Office
forecast that 2007 would likely be the warmest on record around the
world, breaking the record set in 1998.

In France, looking further into the future, the state-run weather
service predicts that the number of full-fledged summer heat waves --
similar to the one in 2003 that left 15,000 French people dead -- will
increase tenfold starting in 2070.

The observations also coincide with a report released Thursday by the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stating that this
winter was the warmest for the entire Northern Hemisphere since it
began keeping records 128 years ago.

In Spain, high temperatures and strong winds have already fanned a
series of fires around Barcelona in the northeast, and in Valencia
further south.

And in Greece, agricultural authorities are already forecasting a
difficult year due to drought in the bread-basket grain area of
Thessaly.

AFP quoted a United Nations study last month as saying that human
activity was almost certain to blame for global warming and warned
that the Earth's average surface temperature could rise between 1.1
and 6.4 degrees by 2100.