World weathers warmest winter on record
Suzanne Ma, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, March 16, 2007
OTTAWA -- This winter was the warmest on record worldwide, according to a U.S. report on climate change, and Canada had a big role to play in it.
"We have a huge amount of real estate in the world. So we certainly would be contributing to this warm record and with what the Americans have come up with in this report," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.
The report, released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that during the past century, global temperatures have increased at about 0.11 degrees per decade. But that increase has been three times larger since 1976.
It comes just over a month after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global warming is very likely caused by human actions and is so severe that it will continue for centuries.
It was Canada's second-warmest winter on record, Phillips said, with temperatures three degrees Celsius warmer than normal. The warmest winter on record was last year, when the nation experienced a winter 3.9 degrees Celsius warmer than normal.
Many scientists attribute the rising temperatures to so-called greenhouse gases which are produced by industrial activities, automobiles, and other processes. These gases build up in the atmosphere and trap heat from the sun somewhat like a greenhouse.
But Phillips said the blame can't be put solely on human beings.
"There's two sides of the debate. One that says it's our fault and the others that say 'no, this is nature.'" he said.
Also contributing to this winter's record warmth was an El Nino, a periodic warming of the tropical pacific Ocean. it was particularly strong in January -- the warmest January ever -- but the ocean surface has since begun to cool.
Phillips says it's important to remember that Canada has been experiencing milder winters for more than a decade.
"Even though we have a reputation of The Great White North and the Land of Ice and Snow, we're really soft when it comes to cold weather," he said. "People have got out of practice. If we had a normal winter, people would think the ice age is coming.
Phillips said people may find it shocking that this winter has been considered a "warm" winter because of the frigid temperatures the country experienced throughout January and February.
This year's winter started off with a mild winter in November and December and it was only until mid-January when the cold arctic air arrived over most of Canada. This cold air stuck around for most of January and all of February, plunging the entire country in a deep freeze.
"It's what I would call a schizophrenic winter," Phillips said. "We started off by looking for winter, sending out search parties to find it. And the second half of it, we saw too much winter. People were getting testy."
The late March date of the vernal equinox noted on most calendars notwithstanding, for weather and climate purposes northern winter is December, January and February.
Ottawa Citizen
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