By TIM CAHILL, New York Times “Sunday Books”, Published: January 30, 2005
Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book
By Christopher C. Burt
THE sky is falling, temperatures are more extreme, tornadoes ravage the
land, Buffalo is probably buried in snow at this very moment, and it is
flooding somewhere in the world. Hailstones the size of pumpkins —
yes, pumpkins — may be pummeling Bangladesh right now. Your town’s
temperature may hit a record high today. Or maybe a record low.
Christopher C. Burt, the author of the excellent and addictive
”Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book,” … reminds us that,…
”In the United States,…weather records have been maintained by the
official weather services since about 1870. … The figures we have
”represent only a fraction of human experience with weather,” but may
be used as a ”yardstick” to determine climatic trends. By this
yardstick, the weather is not becoming more extreme. …
Burt spends but a single page on global warming. ”There is little
debate over the fact that over the past 25 years or so global
temperatures have risen significantly, and the trend has escalated
since 1990.” Why? Well, he points out that many weather stations have
been moved from cities to nearby airports, where acres of asphalt
radiate more heat. Some weather stations, previously in the
countryside, have been absorbed into urban areas, which are warmer in
the winter. Still, deserts are expanding, glaciers are melting, and
Burt is obliged to note that ”recent studies” indicate that an
increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ”is inextricably
associated with global temperature change.”
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