Wacky Summer Weather

[indigobusiness]

Extreme weather continues to strike without warning around the world and global warming is front page news in many countries. In the U.S., we have to rely on our local weather reports, and have no way of knowing that our bizarre, unseasonable weather is being repeated around the globe. There are major floods in areas around the world and Europe, which had a killing heat wave last summer, now has winter in July.

Edmunton Alberta

Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Taiwan, southern China, India, the city of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, Japan and New Jersey have all experienced extraordinary flooding within the past two weeks. Last week Edmonton, Alberta, experienced a "once in 200 years" storm with 45 inches of rain and hail that buried parts of the city under tons of ice.

July 13 was an ominous day for flooding: a ferocious thunderstorm similar in violence to the Edmonton storm swept across Shanghai, killing seven and sinking a cargo ship. In Southeast Asia, the worst monsoon flooding in memory has killed thousands and left over five million people homeless across India, Bangladesh and Nepal. A typhoon has killed at least 50 people in the Philippines and Taiwan, and left a quarter of a million homeless.

Also on the 13th, there was a 17-inch downpour in northwestern Japan, killing at least five people. Again, the rains were sudden and intense, and the sudden flooding overcame people in low-lying areas, in areas that had never experienced these kinds of floods before. On the same day, more that a foot of rain fell in a few hours in New Jersey. The flooding was so fast that, as in Edmonton, people had to flee their cars to escape rising water. The flood zone extended into Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Meanwhile, Europeans from Oslo to Budapest are having snowball fights in July. Europeans feared a repeat of last year's killer heat wave, and southern Europe has indeed experienced some intense heat. But most Europeans have had temperatures that are about half what they were last year. Read the CNN Report.

In the U.K., people are turning on their central heating. Elliot Frisby, of the VisitBritain tourism board, says, "We don't sell Britain as a sun, sea and sand destination."

Swedish ice cream maker Ingemar Folkeson is laying off workers. Danish ice cream maker Lars Fenner says sales are "10 to 15% below normal."

In Vienna, Hubert Pichler, who works in an outdoor amusement park, says, "I already made 10% less business in May and in June I was down almost 30%. We've only had three days of real summer this year..."

15,000 people died in France in last year's heat wave, so the government spent $82 million to install air conditioners in retirement homes, but most of them haven't even been turned on yet.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/07/15/euro.wacky.weather.ap/index.html