Antinuclear

New Zealand has warmest winter on record

Storms on the way and the warmest winter on record Stuff.co New Zealand  OLIVIA WANNAN & SHABNAM DASTGHEIB 18 July 14  “………WARMEST WINTER ON RECORD Last year set records for high temperatures around the world, giving New Zealand its warmest winter, and Australia its hottest year since records began.

The warming climate also brought with it droughts, floods and storms – the only silver lining was that Kiwis were a bit less likely to get sunburnt.

Over the past two summers, the ozone hole was smaller, weaker and broke up sooner than in past years, according to the State of the Climate in 2013 report, published yesterday by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Warmer air at the South Pole means chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) do less damage to ozone, the atmospheric material that filters out much of the UV radiation the Earth is bombarded with.

Over winter, clouds form high over the poles and turn CFCs into their active, ozone-degradation forms, National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research ozone researcher Olaf Morgenstern says.

These clouds last, breaking up ozone, until temperature goes above a certain threshold. “Less of that happens in a warm winter.”

Morgenstern said the largest ozone hole was recorded in 2006, and since then it had fluctuated in size.

While not as badly affected by ozone depletion as Antarctica, New Zealand experiences higher levels of UV radiation because of the loss of the ozone layer. With peak UV intensities high, Kiwis have the highest death rate in the world from skin cancer – about 300 a year.

Victoria University climatologist James Renwick, who collaborated on the report, said the conclusions showed the globe was continuing to heat up. While many Kiwis might take comfort in warmer winters, he warned such seasons came hand-in-hand with more severe storms, droughts, floods, and sea level rise…….”http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/10285595/Weather-outlook-we-re-warming-up

July 19, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized