sudden climate change (Page 4)

Parts of Asia face deadly climate changes and natural disasters caused by pollution and atmospheric warming, sooner than the rest of the world. Floods in Southeast Asia, glaciers melting in the Himalayas, islands disappearing in rising seas and huge dust storms in China are just some of the climate disasters caused by industrial pollution, car exhaust fumes and huge numbers of flatulent farm animals.

?All models say Southeast Asia would be the hardest hit by global warming. Levels of rainfall would be higher and more prolonged, and seasons would change,? says David Jezeph, chief of water and mineral resources at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
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Spain?s North African enclave of Melilla, on a small peninsula on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, was hit by freak heatwaves on Monday, sending temperatures shooting up as much by as 30 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of minutes.

Spain?s Meteorological Institute said it registered two heat surges during the morning, the first sending thermometers soaring from 75 F to 105 F before the temperature went down again within 15 minutes. An hour later, the second burst of heat pushed temperatures up by 59 F before again cooling down a few minutes later.
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Thousands of people seeking relief from 100-plus temperatures in Saudi Arabia were panicked by an unprecendented snowfall of several inches. Thousands were trapped in a mountainous area in the southern part of the country.

Civil defense teams were called in after 75 people were injured in the panic that followed. Several hundred people were rescued by helicopters and mountain jeeps.

Saudi Arabia?s normal climate is hot and dry, but frost and freezing temperatures have been reported in winter in the past. Rainfall is rare, with an average annual precipitation of just 4 inches.
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Scientists are now reporting that Britain?s winter climate could become as cold as Moscow?s, according to new evidence that the vital ocean currents of the North Atlantic are beginning to change.

Measurements over the past 50 years have shown that a key deep-sea current running along the ocean floor that separates Scotland from the Faeroe Islands has slowed down by at least 20 percent. If the discovery is matched at other sites in the North Atlantic it could be the first sign that the warm Gulf Stream, which controls the British climate, is beginning to slow down.
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