Nature Strikes Back!
Weather in 2002
from Rising Tide
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2002
2001, the second hottest year globally since records began,
was another record breaking year for natural disasters.
Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, announced that
disasters in 2001 cost $36 billion and killed at least
25,000 people, more than double the previous year's death
toll (Reuters, 1.1.02).
Storms ripped across northern Europe, killing 17 people.
The sea level rose more than four metres (13 feet) above
its usual level along parts of the Danish coast. In
Scotland and Northern Ireland winds reached 155 km/hour,
overturning trucks and bringing down power lines (BBC
Online, 29.1.02).
In Jakarta, Indonesia, 200,000 people became homeless when
parts of the city went four metres under water following
heavy rains (BBC Online 31 January, 2002).
In Switzerland record winter temperatures, in some valleys
as high as 20°C, closed many ski runs. Artificial snow
machines were needed to keep the largest resorts open
(Swissinfo 06.02.2002).
MARCH
In Antarctica, the Larsen B ice shelf disintegrated. The
ice shelf, which had existed since the last ice age 12,000
years ago, was 200 metres thick and covered 3,200 square
kilometres (New York Times, 20.3. 02).
In Japan, an abnormally mild winter saw the earliest
recorded blooming of cherry blossom (Yomiuri Shimbun, 22.3.02).
APRIL
The British Meteorological Office's Hadley Centre, said
that the first three months of 2002 were the hottest
globally since records began, and probably for at least
1,000 years. (The Daily Telegraph UK, 26.4.022).
Marine biologists announced that 2002 will be the worst
ever for coral bleaching. January and Feburary saw the
highest temperatures ever recorded on the Great Barrier
Reef in Australia, in one place four degrees above average
(The Guardian UK, 24.4.02).
MAY
The 500 square kilometer Ross Ice Sheet, ten times larger
than Manhattan, collapsed into the ocean near New Zealand
(Reuters, CNN 10.5.02)
Taiwan suffered its worse drought in decades. There was
water rationing in the capital, Taipei, which had received
half its usual rainfall (Reuters 14.5.02).
1,200 people died of heat stroke in Southern India, the
most ever killed by an Indian heat wave. Temperatures were
7% higher than usual and went over 50°C (122°F) The victims
were mostly the elderly, the poor, and the homeless
(Associated Press, 15.5.02, 22.5.02)
JUNE
Central and western China, usually regions with low
rainfall, were hit by record rainfalls and the worst
flooding in a century. (Environment News Service: 14.6.02).
By August the flooding had killed 900 people and caused
$3.6 billion in damage, The China Meteorological
Administration announced that 'Global climate change ...
has caused these extreme events' (Associated Press,
16.8.02).
JULY
The drought in the Southern US entered its 5th year.
Hardest hit was the region stretching from central Georgia
through the middle of South and North Carolina and into
central Virginia. Some areas were 60 inches below the
normal rainfall (Associated Press, 15.7.02).
Southern Europe was hit by a heat wave. Temperatures in
Athens hit 105°F. Residents of the Sicilian city of Palermo
gathered to pray to patron Saint Rosalia, asking the woman
who saved them from a plague to rescue them from their
lowest rainfall in 70 years (Reuters, 16.7.02, 29.7.02).
AUGUST
August saw disastrous flooding all around the world. Parts
of Central Europe saw the highest rainfall ever recorded.
The Danube and the Elbe broke their banks affecting 4
million people in Germany. The German weather service said:
"We are seeing the first indications of climate change".
Prague was submerged, and 70,000 residents evacuated. Just
five years previously severe flooding caused $2 billion in
damage to the city (The Straits Times, 15 8.02; Agence
France Presse, 16.8.02; The Guardian, 14.8.02)
At the same time, severe flooding in the poorest parts of
the world received virtually no international attention.
Across Asia an exceptionally early and heavy monsoon caused
flash floods, landslides, and hailstorms. By August it had
displaced 25 million people and killed over 900 people in
India. Half of Bangladesh's land area went under water
displacing 7 million people.. In Nepal flooding and
landslides killed 424 people and left 250,000 more
homeless. (Environment News Service, 31.7.02; The Guardian
(UK), 14.8.02; Associated Press, 16.8.02)
SEPTEMBER
Flash floods in Provence, France, drowned 21 people. Six
months' rain fell in a few hours, (The Age, 12.9.02 )
The mid-west of the US saw a return of the dustbowl
conditions of the Great Depression with the hottest summer
since the 1930s. Six states - North Carolina, Virginia,
Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada - suffered their worst
drought on record. In South Dakota it led of agricultural
losses officials of over $1.8 billion (Reuters, 16.9.02).
A spectacular glacier slip in the Caucusus, Russia, dumped
three million tonnes of ice, mud and rock across 33 km (20
miles) of farmland and killed 120 people (Reuters,
23.9.02).
Continuing and persistent drought in Eritrea and the Horn
of Africa left one million people, roughly one-quarter of
the population, on the edge of starvation (Reuters,
26.9.02).
DECEMBER
By the end of the year the drought in Australia had become
the worst for 100 years. Rainfall in Southern Australia was
70% below average and the temperatures were the highest
ever recorded (New York Times, 24.11.02 ; ABC, 19.12.02
The UK Meteorological Office's Hadley Centre announces that
at present rates the North Pole will have disappeared in
less than 80 years because of melting caused by global
warming (CTV news, 28.12.02)
Which brings us back to where we started...
In its annual assessment, Munich Re announced that natural
disasters in 2002 cost US$55 billion, an increase of 53% on
the previous year. It calculated that the European flooding
in August cost some US$18.5 billion. Globally 2002 was the
second hottest on record, and meteorologists anticipate
that 2003 will break the record set in 1998 (Associated
Press 31.12.02).
– Rising Tide
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