tropical storms

Torrential downpours have been falling several times daily for two weeks, there has been very little sun in three weeks. Everyone is baffled- this is not only not normal, but hasn't happened before. Even in monsoon season, there are rarely more than three days of rain without the sun returning.

I recently got a tv cable installed in my room- which has lead to bouts of watching the BBC World. I discovered that the hurricanes this year are catastrophic, with more than 1,500 dead in Haiti. Further, the number of hurricanes that have happened in the last 10 years has risen dramatically.

It has been 40 years since the state of Florida has been hit by 2 hurricanes in the same year. With a month of hurricane season left to go, they are facing their 4th hurricane. One has to wonder whether we are starting to suffer the consequences of global warming. It is undisputed that an increase in oceanic temperatures will inevitably lead to greater tropical storm frequency. The last time a State in America was hit by four hurricanes in one season, was more than a century ago (Texas, 1886).

Weather conditions all over the world have been unusual over the last few of months and reports that glaciers in the Antartic are melting more quickly than predicted, are also giving some concern.

Oceanologists currently think that the Maldives will disappear within the next 30 years. Years ago, in El Nino, 95% of the coral here in the Maldives was destroyed by a temperature rise in the ocean's currents. There has been some regrowth, but not enough to protect the islands from mass erosion.