2007: The year of weird weather

(Jan 7, 2008) Whether it was flash floods, killer cyclones, out of season hurricanes, lingering droughts or or unexpected snowfalls, 2007 was the year for weird weather.

Last August, Lewis Pugh, a British adventurer, swam one kilometer in ice-free waters of the North Pole. “I want to raise awareness of climate change by showing dramatically what is happening in the Arctic. I can’t think of a better way to show that climate change is a reality than by swimming in a place that should be totally frozen over.” Two weeks earlier, 600 men and women joined artist Spencer Tunick to pose nude on a Swiss glacier, also hoping to bring attention to global warming.

Here's the weird weather 2007 calendar.

January

Eurasian Snow Cover Extent saw the second lowest extent recorded January.

Malaysia the worst flooding in decades, 110,000 people evacuated.

Bangladesh had the coldest temperatures recorded in over 40 years.

Winter storm Kyrill smashes into the UK with 170 km/h (105 mph) winds (strongest since 1950) killing 50 people.

70,000 hectares of land got flooded out of Bolivia and Brazil between January and February, affecting more than 200,000 people.

Most of Canada is snowless and it’s 9 degrees Celsius (48 fahrenheit) in Montreal.

February

Snow finally hits Canada affecting more than 300,000 people in one snowfall.

Mozambique has its worst flooding in 6 years.

Tropical Cyclone Gamede broke a new world record when it rained for three days and dumped 4,000 mm (157 inches) of rain on the French island La Reunion.

Australia saw it’s second hottest February in the 1550-2007 records.

March

Tropical Cyclone George hits Australia at 205 km/h (127 mph).

China has the heaviest snowfall in 56 years.

April

Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover extent is the lowest on record for April.

England has the warmest April in 348 years of record-keeping there, shattering the record set in 1865.

May

Subtropical storm Andrea forms, the first tropical storm in May since 1981.

Uruguay has the worst flooding since 1959, affecting 110,000 people.

China’s Gansu province suffers its worst drought since 1940 and it hit with heavy rains causing flooding and affecting more than 13.5 million people.

Moscow has a heat wave above 30 degrees Celsius (86 fahrenheit) -- the first in 128 years.

The US Midwest entersthe severest droughts in decades with the driest spring on record.

South Africa sets 54 cold records.

June

Nome Alaska begins its longest duration free of frost on record that lasts until September.

In India, 25 million people are hit with the worst South-West Summer Monsoon flooding in years.

Southeastern Europe June and July experience an ongoing heat wave that creates more 130 forest fires.

Tropical Cyclone Gonu with winds of 260 km/h (161 miles) was the strongest ever in the Arabian Sea and the second strongest cyclone in all of the North Indian Ocean.

After six consecutive years of drought, New South Whales endures the worst flooding in three decades.

Worst flooding in decades in Sudan

Johanesburg, South Africa receives its first major snowfall since 1981.

July

Buenos Aires, Argentina experiences it’s first snowfall since 1918.

Great Britain has the wettest May-July on record (and their records go back to 1766) and has the worst flooding in 60 years along the 321 kilometre (200 mile) River Severn.

Burkina Faso has the worst flooding in 16 years.

Typhoon Man-Yi hits Nippon, Japan, at 160 km/h (99 miles) -- it’s the most powerful cyclone since 1951.

500,000 people must be evacuated after a record rainfall in Chongqing, China -- 227 mm (8.94 inches) in 24 hrs.

August

USA August heatwave leaves 50 dead and a number of record temperatures.

Hurricane Dean at 270 km/h (167 mph) is the first category-5 hurricane to make landfall since Andrew in 1982 and is the third most powerful hurricane to make landfill.

Uganda has the heaviest rainfall in 35 years.

September

Hurricane Felix hits the maximum winds of 270 km/h (167 mph) pounding Barbados, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada and St. Lucia before hitting landfill in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Humberto is the first ever hurricane to turn from a tropical storm into a Catrgory 1 storm within 16 hours.

Typhoon Fitow hits Tokyo at 167 km/h (161 mph) -- the most powerful since 2002.

Typhoon Lekima brought the worst flooding to Vietnam in 45 years.

October

Deadly mudslides create the worst natural disaster in Costa Rico history.

Cyclone Krosa hits Taiwan at 167 km/h (103 mph).

November

Zurich receives the largest daily rainfall in 100 years and the heaviest snowfall since 1955.

Tabasco, Mexico has the worst flooding in 50 years and logs in at the worst natural disaster in Mexican history.

Tropical Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh at 240 Km/hr at landfall. Worst storm since 1991 causes 30,000 deaths and relocates 8.5 million people.

Flash floods wipe out Malawi, Papua New Guinea’s Oro province as well as farmland in Greece, Algeria and the southern cape of South Africa.

December

Winter comes fast and furious in the North with record snowfalls a full three weeks before winter officially commences.

Flash floods hit Sydney and Melbourne dumping as much as 21 mm (0.8 inches) of rain in less than half an hour.

Tropical Storm Olga showed up after hurricane season was over, drenching the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Olga is the 10th named storm to developed in December since records began in 1851.

55 pecent of the US West and 78 percent Southeast remain a tinder-box dry due to am exceptional drough. Overall 35 percent of the the contiguous U.S. were in moderate to exceptional drought.

In China, moderate to extreme drought conditions are present across Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, and western Fujian. And the northern parts of Guangxi suffered from exceptional drought.

Lee Schnaiberg has been documenting weird weather since 1993 when he began a series of award winning documentaries on climate change solutions entitiled The Earth Changes!


Tags: Bali, climate change, hurricanes, weathertag cloud.