Climate report predicts deadly heat waves, flooding in Europe

[Blue Belle]

Climate report predicts deadly heat waves, flooding in Europe
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-04-11-europe-prediction_N.htm?csp=15#Close

<SNIP> GENEVA — Dying dolphins in the Mediterranean, reduced livestock in Britain, the extinction of plants in the Alps and frequent heat waves across the continent — this is what is awaiting Europe in the next decades due to climate change, according to a report released Wednesday.

<SNIP> Heat waves are a major concern on a continent unaccustomed to sweltering temperatures. There used to be just one or two days a decade when temperatures in Basel, Switzerland, reached more than 95°F, for example. In the future, that will happen 10 to 14 days a year, said Martin Beniston, a University of Geneva professor who contributed to the report.

<SNIP> According to the report, more than half of Europe's plant species also will be endangered or face extinction by 2080 because of rising temperatures.

"Species are at risk in particular in the Alps," said Andreas Fischlin of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and lead author of the report.

<SNIP> The report recommends a range of measures to adjust to climate change: accommodating floods through expanded flood plain areas, developing detailed coastal management plans, increasing natural reserves to protect species, introducing new varieties of better-adapted crops, promoting alternate tourism activities, and implementing early health warning systems.

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I recommend reading the entire article - plus, there are some really cool interactive graphics on how global warming will effect different parts of the world.

PLUS there is a pack of troglodytes regurgitating the Climate analytical prowess of Michael Chriton and getting in all the right wing talking points in the blog/response section. I'm not a member of USA Today, so I don't get to comment... but feel free to jump in if you are!