Freakish weather may be here to stay – Scientists finding more links with climate change
By Graham Thomson, Edmonton Journal
17 May 2011 EDMONTON – If there’s a silver lining to the clouds of smoke roiling over Slave Lake, it’s the response by Albertans to the catastrophe. It’s as fine a demonstration as any that, for all its faults, the system seems to work when we need it most -from the firefighters on the front line to the police officers safely evacuating the community, to the premier and cabinet ministers holding an emergency meeting. As I write this, we have 1,000 firefighters on the ground and 200 more on the way. Another 250 are being rushed in from B.C., Saskatchewan and Ontario. B.C. will also send in more aircraft to help the 100 helicopters and 20 waterbombers currently fighting more than 100 forest fires in Alberta. The forest fire catastrophe might be located in Alberta, but we have an entire country offering to help. And, if history is any indicator, we’ll be offered help from our American neighbours, too. Not that they aren’t busy coping with their own extreme weather events this spring including wildfires in the Midwest, a severe drought in Texas, flooding on the Mississippi and a record-breaking tornado season. Toss in the flooding in Manitoba and you’re left wondering: What’s going on with the weather? …
