Bathers Hit Mediterranean While Ski Resorts Suffer
By Alister Doyle
Environment Correspondent
1-11-7
OSLO (Reuters) - Swimmers are enjoying winter dips in the Mediterranean, ski resorts from Canada to France have laid off workers and shops are axing prices of thick coats at the start of what scientists say be the warmest year on record.
With unusually high temperatures, dazed bears in Moscow zoo have just dropped off for winter hibernation after months of insomnia while peacocks in a Bulgarian zoo have laid eggs, reckoning spring has long since arrived.
Warmth has brought peach, plum and apricot blossoms months early in Italy and snow drop flowers are blooming in Chicago. Some farmers worry that sprouting crops are vulnerable to frost.
"We are in a period of extreme events," said Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme, noting five months of floods in east Africa and melting Alpine glaciers.
Global warming, stoked by greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, and an El Nino warming of the Pacific Ocean are widely blamed by scientists for mild weather that contributed to push below $53 a barrel on Thursday, a new 19-month low.
Steiner said governments should cut greenhouse gases and work out how to adapt to more heat -- the 10 warmest years since records began 150 years ago have been since 1994.
"Climate change, whether this is linked to greenhouse gases or not, is real and it's getting more extreme," he told Reuters.
Against a warming trend, California has put out a warning of a looming freeze in coming days. In Bahrain, people have donated winter clothes to poor Indian immigrants after a cool December.
SWIM, NOT SKI
Spain's southern region of Andalucia has had temperatures of almost 20 Celsius (68.00F) in recent days and people are still swimming in the Mediterranean -- normally too chilly in winter.
A lack of snow has upset the Alpine World Cup ski calendar and France's Val d'Isere will host two men's races on Jan. 20-21 originally scheduled for Chamonix.
In Europe, workers have been laid off in ski resorts from France to Norway. Canada's Blue Mountain resort in Ontario closed twice this season and temporarily laid off 1,000 workers.
Still, some skiers are still able to make a joke of it all. Austria's Rainer Schoenfelder, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist, skied naked alongside the famed Lauberhorn downhill course after losing a dare with his physiotherapist.
"I am happy ... that it was not cold when I carried out my forfeit," he said of Wednesday's stunt, wearing only ski boots, gloves and an orange helmet.
The United Nations says 2006 was the sixth warmest year worldwide since records began in the 1860s. U.S. government forecasters say 2006 was the warmest in the United States since records began there 112 years ago.
And Britain's Meteorological Office has projected that 2007 will be the warmest worldwide on record, because of global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific.
In Belgium, for example, average temperatures were 11.8 Celsius (53.24F) in early 2007 -- typical of June.
The heat means shoppers are finding winter bargains.
"Shop stockrooms are full of heavy coats, consumers will have more choice and probably bigger discounts than last year," Roberto Borghi, chairman of Italy's fashion retailers' association, told Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper.
But many farmers are worried.
In South Africa, hailstones the size of tennis balls pounded the Eastern Cape province, killing small livestock, in the summer month of December, the national weather service said.
Europe's wheat farmers had ideal weather in the autumn but plants are vulnerable. "The risk of frost damage and winterkill is ... higher than normal," French analyst Strategie Grains said.
And pests usually killed by cold are surviving -- also raising fears in some nations of more cases of malaria.
In the Nordic region, mild temperatures have helped cut the number of accidents on normally icy roads. And construction workers are working on outdoor sites normally frozen.
http://rense.com/general75/wew.htm
I don't know, just makes me wonder.
I too, am very familiar with the area Pamelajean is talking about. A week or so ago it was necessary to walk outdoors to another area of my workplace, probably the equilavent of 2-3 blocks. The winds were like something out a sci-fi movie, extraordinary, fierce, and authoritative. I came very close to being knocked off my feet a couple of times and wondered if the return trip was even going to be possible!!!! 
Were talking an altitude of not much above sea level, way under 1000 ft. Got into work OK, and not more than 10-15 minutes later, a full blown HEAVY snow storm starts blowing SIDEWAYS suddently. Truly a sight to behold!!!!!
Yeah...... Twilight zone
