2002- A YEAR OF CLIMATE CHANGE
A SUMMARY OF EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS

A Summary of Extreme Weather Events in 2001

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).

A Summary of Extreme Weather Events in 2001.....