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| Freak Weather in Cornwall | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 18 2004, 04:48 AM (132 Views) | |
| ds9074 | Aug 18 2004, 04:48 AM Post #1 |
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Admiral
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The freak weather event experienced on Monday in Cornwall is top of the news here in the UK. We have simply not seen anything like it in the UK before. Above the village of Boscastle they had 4 inches of rain in an hour. The villages were then faced with a 4 foot high wall of water coming down the valley. Cars were just picked up and floated out to sea. Some houses were swept away and the village was wrecked. Luckly it doesnt seem anyone lost their lives, if it had been at night it could have been different. 100 people had to be airlifted off their houses by helicopter. It was of a greater magnitude than similar floods in Lynmouth, Devon, on the same day in 1951 where 34 people died. That shows how lucky we were this time to have no casualties.![]() ![]() These give a taste of the deverstation and there is more at the BBC site: BBC Story with Link to Video and Arial Photo Lynmouth Floods, August 16th 1951 Pictures 1 Pictures 2 Pictures 3 |
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| somerled | Aug 18 2004, 07:05 AM Post #2 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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^^ This kind of event seems to be happening more often - especially in densely populated locations. Must have been very frightening for the locals and tourists caught up in the event. |
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| ds9074 | Aug 18 2004, 08:23 AM Post #3 |
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Admiral
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A flash flood in the pan or a rainstorm caused by global warming? Increasingly severe summer rainstorms like the one which led to the flood that devastated Boscastle are beginning to suggest the influence of global warming, a flood scientist said yesterday. Climate change is predicted by computer models to cause more violent summer downpours in Britain, but such is the variability of our climate that no single storm can be taken as conclusive evidence of it. However, the increasing occurrence of such events in now starting to point to global warming as the ultimate cause, said Alan Werrity, professor of physical geography at the University of Dundee and an adviser to the Scottish Executive on flood management. "One can't point the finger at a particular event and say, this proves it," he said "However, it is consistent with it. And taking event after event, the more frequent and more intense storms affecting Britain suggest that it is very likely that climate change is beginning to register" While the popular conception of global warming is of increased heat, it is increased precipitation that may be of much more consequence for Britain. The predictions from computer models such as that run by the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research at Exeter are that as the century progresses, Britain will experience increasing winter rainfall, especially in the North and West, and summer rainstorms of increasing force all across the country. Britain is in a meteorological "battle zone", where a mass of warm air coming up from the tropics meets a mass of cold air coming down from the North Pole, Professor Werrity said. With global warming, the intensity of the encounter between these two converging air systems is predicted to increase, and more storms will be generated. The warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold - which will eventually fall as rain - and the more dynamic and the atmospheric processes. The result: a soggy future for Britain. We will often get very wet in the summer, Professor Werrity said, but more seriously, cities which will experience many more intense storms than they have in the past will be unable to cope with the run-off from the streets. "The Victorian sewer system we have wasn't designed to cope with the rainfall intensity we are experiencing today and which will become even more violent in the future," he said. "The urban drainage can’t evacuate the run-off from the storms, and in a city if you can't get rid of the water quickly enough through the drains, then the drains back up." This happened in London two weeks ago, leading to a massive discharge of untreated sewage into the Thames, which killed thousands of fish. But re-engineering Britain's Victorian sewer system would cost billions. Michael Mccarthy, Environment Editor The Independent, Wednesday 18th August 2004 I think it is become more and more clear that the climate is changing. We are going to see more of these events. The biggest storms on record occured within the past 20 years, that the top three storms to hit Britain since the start of the 18th Century at least. Whether human activity is contributing is another argument. |
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| Admiralbill_gomec | Aug 18 2004, 08:54 AM Post #4 |
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UberAdmiral
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No it isn't. It is just that our weather forecasting and recording has IMPROVED over the past century... |
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| somerled | Aug 18 2004, 09:42 AM Post #5 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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^^ You missed the point - as the population grows and people densities grow , and more and more marginal and flood prone land is cleared and filled with suburbia then even if the frequency of extreme weather events isn't growing (that's another discussion) then more people will be adversely effected by these events - an extreme example is Banglahdesh (people occupy and utilise ever piece of land and when the monsoons come - they are always flooded and often millions are made homeless as their land disappears for ever into the India Ocean) and many parts of Europe and perhaps also the USA. Think about it. |
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| doctortobe | Aug 18 2004, 10:32 AM Post #6 |
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Speak softly, and carry a 57 megaton stick!
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Well yeah, if you take up more and more land, it is more likely that you will have disasters like this hitting you. Like if Australia had a more spread out population, then those tornadoes that you mentioned would hit populated areas more often. This is not due to global warming, it is due to human development. |
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| ds9074 | Aug 18 2004, 02:24 PM Post #7 |
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Admiral
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No thats no the case, it is not that there are simply more residental areas so more are hit. We are actually seeing a change in climate patterns and an increase in extreme weather events. This is something that there has been increasing evidence for since the late 1980s when groups of scientists began putting together the data they had on a global scale. As I say even if you take the UK, which is a very small slice of world weather but has some of the most detailed records going back over some of the longest periods, the worst storms since records began were in the last 20 years. The hottest temperatures were last year as was the longest dry period. The most rain in 24 hours we have just seen. So it goes on. Experts are saying the climate is changing, whether they agree it is human induced or not. It is certainly the view of the Met Office and the scientists who advise the UK Government. Oh and these rains have just brought about a landslide in Scotland trapping 18 people in there cars. No I cant just dismiss climate change as some left wing fantasy, its actually happening and we need to face up to reality. |
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| somerled | Aug 19 2004, 02:08 AM Post #8 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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Doc: I think that if you looked into it - you would find that climate change (natural or man induced or otherwize) and high population densities and poor hydrological design of cities and suburbs are all contritbuting to these rare (and not necessarily freak - once per 10yr, or once per 25yr , or once per 100 yr, once per 1000 yr) events impact on the people effected - the effect of the "freak" rain storm in Conwell, is just one of several similar events that became newsworthy. We had a similar event in my town about 20 years ago, a flash flood resulted from a torrential downpour and most of my suburb was under 10 ft of water, I live on a bit of hill so we were not unduely effected. Some families had the entire contents of their homes washed away - the flood was so sudden - it burst through back doors and took the furniture out through the front door never to be seen again ! , as well as demolishing fenses and detached garages. |
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| Takamori | Aug 23 2004, 11:32 AM Post #9 |
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Cadet 3rd Year
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I agree with ds9074, the climate is changing, I believe through global warming, however, we are scheduled to have an Ice Age pretty soon so maybe increased global warming , although bad in the short-term, may be beneficial in the long-term. Also, I heard about what happened in Cornwall, thank God I don't live there. |
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| Admiralbill_gomec | Aug 23 2004, 11:41 AM Post #10 |
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UberAdmiral
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Why is everything supposedly due to Global Warming? Geez! Has anyone ever thought of solar activity as the cause (sun spots, flares) for freak activity. In addition, the past three summers here in Houston have been some of the coolest on record. |
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| Hoss | Aug 23 2004, 11:52 AM Post #11 |
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
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Studies have shown that before the industrial age in the West, that global weather was consistent and reliable. Temperatures were dead-on average hitting the normal highs and lows everyday. Annual rain and snowfalls were identical every year in every corner of the Earth. Hurricanes occured but were very predictable and the number and severity never dropped outside of the norm. Flooding and drought did not occur, nor did el nino, monsoons blizzards or any of that. The polar ice caps were regular and never moved out of their seasonal norms. The average stoneage man could rely on the weather the way we rely on clocks. He could get the requisite amount of rain and sun for each growing season. Animals gathered round and sung in the spring and nestled comfortably in their burrows in the winter waiting for the thaw of spring that would arrive with the clockwork precision of mother nature. This all ended with the advent of coal-fired industry in the late-nineteenth century. Since then, the weather has been radically unpredictable. Sometimes areas receive more or less rain than average. In some places where the average summer high temperature is 97F, it has been known to be as low as 94F and as high as 100F. Obviously the deviousness and greed of man has spoilt the benevolent harmony of mother nature and the world will never return to the eden it once was where animals, plants and indians cavorted in peace and harmony. |
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| somerled | Aug 23 2004, 11:53 AM Post #12 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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Takamori:
I think it's likely that an iceage may develop - but that is based in pre-historical and geological global temperature trends / cycles that may or may not still persist. Will an iceage (mini or otherwise) and most likely in northern hemisphere where there is more land area and limited oceanic heat circulation help cancel out the effect of man-induced global warming (greenhouse effect) ? That's subject to considerable debate. |
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