here in my neck of the woods..the greatest fear is bush fires...merle Suresh,
I don't know if it's an explanation, but I understand that Climate Change is having effects upon the annual Monsoon, and the general atmospheric circulation over the Himalaya. Many have been viewing with alarm the accelerating increase of concentration in greenhouse gases. Keeling has observed the concentration of Tropospheric CO2 from Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawai'i since 1958. The tiny amplitude annual cycle is due to changes in photosynthesis on a seasonal basis, and the upward climb is due to burning of fossil fuels. Detection of the annual cycle shows the fine sensitivity of the method. Disruptions in the regularity (as to Date) and other behavior of the Monsoon may have to do with climate changes wrought by general (global) tropospheric warming. The "Keeling Curve" graph is a beautiful piece of work, and is powerful document. A copy of the graph, almost up to date, and an article about it, is at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mauna_Loa_Carbon_Dioxide_Apr2013.svg Data that is more up to date can be had from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. I think that the CO2 concentration is now above 400 parts per million. Many hectares of forest land in the western USA is burning now, due to unusually warm and dry conditions. In Colorado, the year 2012 was the worst year on record for wildfire damages. The Spring of 2013 has already exceeded that record. We in Arizona are taking extreme measures to avoid fires, now. Our thunderstorm monsoon begins about July 4 every year, and the rains are usually preceded by several weeks of "dry" storms with lots of lightning. Warming and climate change seem to have made our desert even drier, lately. We are not likely to have flooding here, but fires, instead, on our wooded mountains. --Joe > SURESH JAGADEESAN <varamtha@...> wrote: > > Shocking News > ========================================================== > Rain toll rises to 131, over 73,000 stranded in north > Casualties In Thousands, > Dehradun/Shimla: Torrential rains continued to pour [snip]
