I have born and bought up in Kerala, South India and we have really very beautiful climate throughout the year. I have also experienced the extreme climates in Europe, US and Middle East. However I like the climate where ever I live.

Friends, this link will give you an idea what has caused the weather changes in my country. What a great price we pay for 'development' !

http://www.rainforestconservation.org/rainforest-primer/3-rainforests-in-peril-deforestation/f-consequences-of-deforestation/3-loss-of-biodiversity-including-genetic-diversity/

I live in The Indian Than Desert, @Kamal sir, we has received increased rainfall in recent years. Especially this time of the year, onset of summer, no time for rains but, there are showers every or seven day interval. Resulting into increased illness due to increased number of disease vectors like mosquitos and flies.

Dear Prof Kamal, it's not just here in Malaysia that the days are getting so hot. In Jordan as well. Without air conditioning it's very hard to work. I'm sweating away (Perspiration, and waiting for inspiration to work on a new topic in learning!).

Dear Kamal,

I would exchange our northeastern U.S. winter for some Jordanian prolonged summer! Miranda, our winters have increased in severity, with lower temperatures and greater snowfalls. Of course our water supply is abundant-- not overabundant like yours--, and I swim 12 months a year, mainly in an indoor pool. Even so, when traveling, I tend toward warm climates, luxuriate in the outdoor heat, and would love to settle in a warmer area were it not for family members whose company keeps me in the Northeast.

In Australia we have also experienced the same; the hottest year on record was in 2013. The predictions are that Australia’s temperature will continue to warm which may lead to decrease in rainfall in southern Australia, increase in numbers of hot days and higher fire risks and more severe drought conditions!

Dear friends (Darasingh, Profs Kamal, Nelson), it seems we are all affected. For Darasingh, much more rain resulting in water puddles and breeding areas for vectors! And for Nelson, much colder winters. I wouldn't like that too, Nelson. Sympathies!

Dear Golam,

One of my cousins studied in Uni of Western Australia. She used to complain of the heat and flies. Do the ladies still use that special hat to 'bash' the flies?

Prof Kamal, doesn't Jordan take its name from the River Jordan, that is so famous in the Bible, since the days of Moses? Do you get water from rivers and springs?

Dear Miranda, Last winter we had -25 'C in my area, what was not typical for Central -North Poland, where I live. But I like snowy and frosty winters, much more than many of Polish drivers. Now we have relatively warm and flowering spring with +20'C. Spring climate in Poland is generally moderate, with often rain, sun. Yesterday, on Sunday we had sun, rain, thunderstorm, and sun again. During summers we mainly do not need to use air conditioning, at homes, which is basically needed in cars and offices. I like Polish climate for living but holidays I prefer to spend in southern parts of Europe while summer and in the cool east part of Poland during winter.

Unlike in Malaysia in US the temperatures vary a lot during the year from something like -30C to +30C. However we have seen it is varying a lot of late. For example this year it has very cold and had a lot of snow. You will be surprised to know we had snow fall only a week back. Otherwise spring is supposed to be very pleasant, but we are still feeling the cold from winter.

I belong to Bhubaneswar,Odisha. Standing on the coastal belt, the weather in Odisha (Orissa),India is greatly influenced by the sea. It has 480 kms. long sensitive coast line, which is a periodic recipient of climate risks such as cyclones and coastal erosion.The climate of the region is tropical resulting in very high temperature in the months of April and May. On the contrary, the Eastern Ghats of the state experience an extremely cold climate.We have faced severe cyclonic storm last year. Cyclonic storm Phailin slammed on 12 October,2013 9 PM east coast near Gopalpur in Odisha, triggering heavy rains and strong winds with speed reaching up to 200 km an hour while more than 500,000 people were shifted to safety in coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.Strong winds uprooted trees, electricity and communication poles and thatched roofs in coastal Odisha and north coastal Andhra.

http://news.in.msn.com/national/cyclone-slams-coast-heavy-rains-in-odisha-andhra

Dear friends, I'm learning a lot from you all. Thanks. So Beata, your winter was COLD, but your spring sounds so wonderful!!

Prof N, the range of temperature is large. I'm not sure that I like -30C...but with central heating it's probably OK to work!

Dear friends, perhaps we are likely to be STUCK with these changes in our weather, the effects of global warming etc and discomforts. What do you THINK?

I live in Delhi, India, where the weather is extreme hot in summer (May-June; up to 46 + degree Celsius sometimes) and extreme cold in winter (December-February 1-2 degree Celsius). A lot of people do not like the Delhi weather due to these extremities. But since I am born and brought up in Delhi I have got used to it.

My discomfort is that during spring season, I develop hay fever and flu often, which gives a bad feeling besides reducing efficiency.

Weather and climate change is also related to the psychic states of humans.

There is a large dispersion. Some relief when seeing the dark clouds, others do not feel well and other are inerts. It must be overcomed to produce better in his life.....

Thanks Prof Debi and Noureddine. I sympathize because even weather can hamper us, and make us less efficient, less productive! This dry spell has cast a spell on my friends and on me! I have been praying for rain. My good friends with 5 children have bought several 15 gallon tanks!

Normally climate doesn't bother me, what ever it is. However I wish we have some rain here where I am working. Since last 3 years I have been here and I see rain only 3 days.

I have born and bought up in Kerala, South India and we have really very beautiful climate throughout the year. I have also experienced the extreme climates in Europe, US and Middle East. However I like the climate where ever I live.

Dear Dr Miranda, actually I felt discomfortable too last few weeks, but thankfully today there was a very good raining for more than 1 hr. Generally, the weather in Malaysia not changeable and there is no seasons. That is some time make me miss the beautiful climate in my home country.

Manitoba seasons offer contrasting views of nature. Our winter season stretches from late October to mid-April with average nighttime temperatures dipping down to -30C. Because the snowscapes created here by frequent snowstorms, the beauty of the snowscapes compensates us and makes the low temperatures endurable. For a sample local snowscape from visualphotos.com, see the attached image.

By contrast, our summer months provide astonishingly rapid growth of plants and trees. And all of the song birds that fly south each autumn, return during April of each year.

There are in fact local changes directly caused by man . But I believe we should not forget that changes in average temperature may be closely related to natural phenomena that we do not yet know thoroughly.

Miranda : I'm sorry , but I do not believe that these 6 degrees of variation in mean temperature are caused solely by man . There are natural phenomena that we do not yet know .

We observe nature recently. We still can not pinpoint exactly what is due to human action and what is due to natural phenomena .

But I insist that we need to worry about the environment !

Here in southern Brazil we have tropical storms about ten years back. Before that we had no historical records . And we would have reason to believe that these storms are due to the action of man .

Staying attentive to historical records , reports of about a hundred years ago indicating the existence of these same storms were discovered .

So I insist that we need to worry about the environment , but we must avoid hysterics .

1995 was the first year of noticable change of climate in Moscow area. It was warm (above 0oC) until 1st November. Every following year had some longer frost-free period and warmer spring. Difference in rainfall increased between local regions, but we have more cases of long-lasting large climatic events (cyclons or anti-cyclons) above all European part of Russia for several weeks or months. Last winter was warm (snow melted), temperature was 6oC above average exept some 30 days (11.01 - 20.02) with normal frosty weather. Spring came at the end of February, but look more like West European winter - warm and cold days were in equal number.

I think allergy is the worst that I and someothers face during the change of weather.

Thanks for your views. It's all very interesting. We don't have seasons in Malaysia as Heshu has said; and we used to have climate that followed a certain pattern. But now, it's not as it used to be. Yesterday, there was a flash flood in Kuala Lumpur, the commercial capital, no longer the administrative capital.

@Mahfuz, on Easter Sunday, some of my friends visited the Old Folks Home nearby our church. As people age, they lose some ability to adapt to harsh weather; although generally, some adapt to weather conditions better than others.

@Roberto, thanks for the link. I will look into it. I just finished invigilating exams for today. My semester is slightly different from most of you. I have 5 weeks hols per year, and no sabbaticals.

Being in the middle of the Atlantic (average Lat 39ºN) and influenced by the Gulf Stream, the Azores are a mild climate in winter and subtropical in summer with low thermic amplitudes throughout the year and generally high relative humidity values especially in altitude - full data here: http://www.climaat.angra.uac.pt/

However, this winter and Spring have been atypical with very cold days and weeks of strong winds (well, for us 10ºC is very cold). Sea temperatures range between 17/18ºC in winter and 21/24ºC in summer but now, full Spring, the sea is still very cold (between 13/15ºC).

So generally, the Azores are climate comfortable and maybe this year (and the last trimester of 2013) are/were just atypical.

However, I am a tropical person and I do feel well in tropical places, I do not bother with humidity and perhaps the best climate where I've been are still those from the Gulf of Guinea Islands.

Cheers,

JP

Our Springtime weather is one month late this year. Our March weather was a continuation of our winter weather. And the first half of April has been like the first half of March in most past years.

In terms of adverse conditions due to weather, the big concern here for farmers is that the frost is quite deep (more than 2 meters). And that frost only leaves with onslaught of warm days. This means that farmers will not be able to work their fields and plant their crops until later. The growing season in this region is quite short: roughly 3 1/2 to 4 months. So that is a big concern here this year.

This year, all year through, we have experienced all extremes, like too much cold, rains at any time, at present temperature has reached 40 degrees. Majority of our discomforts are related to this. Exam time is March, April, May, which is very hot this year, so it reflects on students, teachers and finally parents. As for me, I am comfortable in any weather.

@Joao, James, Jaya: thanks.

I learned geography of Europe, North America and India; and I can still remember many things. But perhaps global warming has also affected you in some ways. So my geography is no longer correct.

@Jaya, it's good to be comfortable in any weather. But my old folks aren't so hardy.

@ Miranda, being comfortable is more a state of mind. If we have no choice, it's better to be happy with whatever we have to face :))

Jaya,

You are very fortunate to be comfortable in any weather. Personally, I prefer the winter months when there are many interesting snow sculptures after each snowstorm. If I am near an ocean where I can swim, then extreme heat is pleasant. Otherwise not, for me.

@Jaya: …being comfortable is more a state of mind.

Perhaps you are correct. Winter is best for me because of the interesting geometric shapes created by the falling snowflakes during each snowstorm. I revel in winter weather, despite the extreme cold.

@ James, you are lucky, in the sense, you do not have to face extreme heat, which we face here and we don't get to see snow and snow fall. I experienced that, when I had been to Seattle, USA, in May, two years back. It is astounding to see the two very different weathers, here in India and there. Of course, my favorite is winter but we have very small winter and that too, not very cold !

Dear friends, Prof James and Jaya: do you agree that the extreme conditions are likely to be even more pronounced due to global warming effects?

(I will be back on RG soon. Busy today, have a good day.)

All the predictions are that the intensity and frequency of floods, droughts and cyclones will rise (depending on locations)

Miranda,

Global warming does indeed appear to be a serious problem. I have noticed unusual weather patterns in this region during the past few years. In our case, we are witnessing a delayed springtime season and a winter season that is more than a month longer than usual. To give you some idea about this peculiar weather, consider what happened here in Winnipeg today. We had

> rain in the morning,

> rain mixed with snow in the afternoon,

> heavy snow falling from the sky this evening.

At my place, the weather now a days is so hot that it difficult to sleep at night.

Sweating drenches the cloths and bed.

Scorching sun from early morning do not give courage to move out of room and go to work.

Sometimes when the breeze stops, condition reaches to such a extreme that we feel the oxygen circulation has stopped.

Global warming and huge pollution are the major contributing factor behind this.

Regards,

Nitish

Thanks Golam, James, Nitish et al.,

@Golam, the search for our missing plane stopped a while because of cyclone in Indian ocean, but now it's on again.

It should be spring time for you Prof James, but you are getting:

> rain in the morning,

> rain mixed with snow in the afternoon,

> heavy snow falling from the sky this evening.

One of my dad's favorite songs was 'When it's springtime in the Rockies'.

@Nitish, I only have a ceiling fan in this college apartment, and it's hot day and night. Understand and sympathize with you...

Yes, I agree that the extreme conditions are likely to be even more pronounced due to global warming effects. Whatever we have done to our environment, we are here to suffer from it too.

Dear All, Lijo Francis, Patrick Low and others that you know are not able any longer to log in their RG account from yesterday. RG suspended their accounts without any reason. I don't know why, but I find this an outstanding abuse. Please help them and inform all other participants as this is a signal that things are not going in the right way in RG before it happens to you!

Regards

Gianni

I totally agree with Professor Zurlini's comment.

Best regards,

JP

Perhaps, eventually, RG will communicate with those who were suspended, letting them know the reasons for the suspension.

Dear friends, we wait for this issue to resolve. I just need to get on with so much work.

Responding to Prof Gianni et al:

Friends, sometimes Blessings come in disguise. Now Lijo has more time to work on his research without RG cares or commitments. Lijo wrote this 5 hours ago to us all:

'Just now I have received the Cyprus Visa in my Passport.

Now I am going to prepare the PPT slides to present my papers in Cyprus EDS Conference. Since I have two papers to present.

Conference will be from 11-15 May.'

Friends, some good news: Lijo won an award at the conference in Cyprus :)

Concerning climate change: is this severe flooding due to climate change?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/us-balkans-flood-idUSBREA4E0PA20140515

I am facing big floods! It is disaster!

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/floods-kill-three-in-worst-natural-catastrophe-to-hit-serbia-525179

Prof Ljubomir, please take care. No fishing or going near Danube and the other rivers...the damage is massive!

http://www.dw.de/storm-floods-balkans-serbia-declares-emergency/a-17639326

Ljubomir, we your friends pray for the safety of your person, your family, and your property during this period of flooding.

Thanks a lot my dear friends! Here is a photo of Obrenovac city where is the largest open coal pit mine and most of Serbian power plants are installed. The level of water is 3-4 meters!!! :(

Here is the link for photos!

http://www.tanjug.rs/FotoDet.aspx?galID=127958

Ljubomir, it looks like a Marscape with water instead of cold desert.

@Nelson, vivid description :) Well, you are poetic.

@Ljubomir, it's a good thing that no one is trapped in the mines! But this may have adverse effects on the agriculture, mining industry etc. Is Pozarevac on a higher level?

Dear Prof Ljubomir, take good care concerning water borne diseases for yourself, family and community, at this time:

http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/oids/epi/waterborne/list.htm

Dear Ljubomir,

your country is receiving this "unexpected" rainy catastrophy. My best wishes for you and your compatriots!

Thanks to all my friends for care! Huge disaster, catastrophe, cataclysm, many dead! My city is not close, but situation is changing rapidly!

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-floods-continue-obrenovac

In these times we know that life is not in our control. The economy will recover but it will take time. You can be sure that I will pray for all of you. Do your best and take care, dear Prof...

Dear all, we have a much bigger problem, if the antartic ice shield is melting. The scientists claim an increase of sea level of 1-1.5 m worldwide. Would you try to explain, how the flat northern part of the european continent or the wonderful islands in the pacific ocean will survive.

Since a long time, dear Miranda, I have no illusion, that we have control over our planet. Remember tsunami, acute rainy catstrophy, disappearing warm or cold streams in the oceans with the extreme consequences for us all.

We are really only guests on the surface of the earth.

Over three years of observation from the ESA Cyros-Sat- 2 satellite show that the ice sheet is losing 159 billion tonnes of ice each year- twice as much as when it was last surveyed in 2010. The polar ice sheets are a major contributor to the rise in global sea levels. The polar ice plays critical role in our environment. It is the largest store of fresh water on the planet and it affects ocean heights,temperature and circulation which in turn changes our weather and, in the term,our climate.

This is some effect of climate change on microbes. Here it is:

'We found that (i) fungal abundance increased in warmed treatments; (ii) bacterial abundance increased in warmed plots with elevated atmospheric [CO2] but decreased in warmed plots under ambient atmospheric [CO2]; (iii) the phylogenetic distribution of bacterial and fungal clones and their relative abundance varied among treatments, as indicated by changes in 16S rRNA and 28S rRNA genes; (iv) changes in precipitation altered the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria, where Acidobacteria decreased with a concomitant increase in the Proteobacteria in wet relative to dry treatments; and (v) changes in precipitation altered fungal community composition, primarily through lineage specific changes within a recently discovered group known as soil clone group I.

Taken together, our results indicate that climate change drivers and their interactions may cause changes in bacterial and fungal overall abundance'.

http://aem.asm.org/content/76/4/999.full

Climate change may also accelerate mutations in viruses, so perhaps we will hear of new diseases that threaten humans. A recent new virus was the MERSCoV. Is anyone researching these areas?

Dear Miranda,

I´m not sure that virusses perform their mutations quicker, if temperatures increase some degrees, but I´m convinced that they will multiply faster.

@Hanno et al., thanks. The faster multiplication is certain. The faster mutation is possible :) We seem to have many different viruses named HaNb, where a and b are numbers...example H1N1, H5N1 etc

I just got this news:

'Posted: 28 May 2014 10:31 AM PDT

A new study has found that the Antarctic Ice Sheet began melting about 5,000 years earlier than previously thought coming out of the last ice age -- and that shrinkage of the vast ice sheet accelerated during eight distinct episodes, causing rapid sea level rise.'

I got some news on climate change:

June 5, 2014; Harvard University.

'Over the last two decades, spurred by higher temperatures caused by climate change, scientists say, forests throughout the Eastern US have experienced earlier springs and later autumns than ever before. Over the last two decades, spurred by higher temperatures caused by climate change, scientists say forests throughout the Eastern U.S. have experienced earlier springs and later autumns than ever before.'

Is there similar effect in your country?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140605183641.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29

Some news on evidence that links air pollution to autism, schizophrenia:

University of Rochester Medical Center; 5 June 2014.

'A new study describes how exposure to air pollution early in life produces harmful changes in the brains of mice, including an enlargement of part of the brain that is seen in humans who have autism and schizophrenia. The mice performed poorly in tests of short-term memory, learning ability, and impulsivity.'

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140605155722.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+Science+News%29

Dear All,

My wife and I used to work in our garden. We have some fruit trees and produce vegetables: beans, peas, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, strawberries and melons. In the last 4 years because of the draught in spite of our work we could produce practically nothing in terms of yield. This year the precipitation was too much in the second part of the summer and so most of the crops rotted and dyed off even the grape wine because of the very high infection of pathogens.

Often we cannot experience the spring and the autumn but summer and winter. There have been very big weather anomalies and I am afraid agriculture’s productivity will drop. Hungary was a Central European country with continental climate. It seems that our territory will have a Mediterranean type of weather.

Dear @Andras, it is the same situation in Serbia, maybe warmer! In Serbia we are faced that year  has only two seasons for several years!

Kiwi and citrus are grown in Serbia !!! Mediterranean type of weather, definitely!

Dear @András and @Ljubomir,  during the past 4 months, we have had too much rain with little sunshine.   As a result, our garden tomatoes are one third their normal size for this time of year.

I spent the month of August this year in Adiyaman, Turkey.   The average daytime temperature was 40+C every day with no rain.   Just the opposite of our weather here in Winnipeg!   Fortunately, now Adiyaman is having rainy days.

Water is listed among the ten highest global risks in

Global Risks 2014 published by the World Economic Forum:

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalRisks_Report_2014.pdf

See page 15 on risks that flow from water.

Dear friends, I found this link.  The pic shows a hot earth.

'Global warming and climate change is looked at in this section of the global issues web site. Introduced are some of the effects of climate change. In addition, this section attempts to provide insights into what governments, companies, international institutions, and other organizations are attempting to do about this issue, as well as the challenges they face. 

Many are agreed that climate change may be one of the greatest threats facing the planet. Recent years show increasing temperatures in various regions, and/or increasing extremities in weather patterns.'

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/178/climate-change-and-global-warming

Dear @Miranda,

It seems that we are witnessing global climate shiftings rather than global warming.   I say this because it seems that some places that used to be hot and dry are now wet and some places that were traditionally wet are now hot and dry.

Thanks dear Profs and friends.  Here is a recent link, Sept 2014:

'UN urges action against climate change

Ban Ki-moon urges world leaders to lead dialogue in tackling consequences of climate change at annual UN climate summit.'

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/09/un-urges-action-against-climate-change-2014923153952211765.html

Friends, the effects are very severe in Surat, India.  (Perhaps, more severe and more deaths, than the floods in Serbia and Bulgaria?)

'According to the climate change experts, it is only a matter of time. The city of Surat (population 4.5 million), in the state of Gujarat on the west coast of India, will soon be exposed to recurrent flooding, with the risk of malaria and dengue fever epidemics in its aftermath. It also faces higher temperatures, which may force companies to relocate. So its citizens are planning for twin disasters that rapid urban development and global warming bring in their wake.'

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/15/indian-cities-climate-change-surat

Late September floods in eastern Serbia. That is what we are facing due to a climate change and enormous heavy rain! Watch the scary video! :(

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/09/17/serbia-flood-video/15765729/