China blames freak storm on global warming
By JOHN GARNAUT HERALD CORRESPONDENT
January 5, 2010 BEIJING: Freak snowstorms and record low temperatures sweeping northern China are linked to global warming, say Chinese officials. But, unlike the unseasonal snow falls that hit Beijing at the start of winter, the dump this week appears to have no link to the Government’s relentless efforts to change the micro climate. There are about 2000 weather modification offices in China, according to the media, which are responsible for bombing the skies with silver iodide to induce precipitation. More than 2 million Beijing and Tianjin students were given the day off school yesterday because traffic was in chaos. On Sunday the capital received its biggest snow dump since 1951, immediately followed by the harshest Siberian winds in decades. Tomorrow morning the mercury is forecast to plunge to minus 16, a 40-year low, after a day-time maximum of minus 8. The head of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, Guo Hu, linked the blizzard-like conditions this week to unusual atmospheric patterns caused by global warming. ”In the context of global warming, extreme atmospheric flows are causing extreme climate incidents to appear more frequently, such as the summer’s rain storms and last year’s icestorm disaster in southern China,” Mr Guo told Beijing News. Beijing winters are normally cold but arid, with most years recording only a light dusting of snow. On Sunday most of Beijing recorded between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow. The city’s north received 33 centimetres. …
