Experts dispute record weather forecast

07:52, October 14, 2010      
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Addressing public fears that have resulted in the stockpiling of goods in preparation for natural disasters, Chinese meteorologists Wednesday dismissed speculations of abnormal extreme weather in Europe and China, saying there wasn't any scientific evidence to support such fears.
One source of such concerns is European climatologists who have been predicting that the region this year could face its coldest winter in a millennia.
According to a Polish climatologist, the Gulf Stream - the warm Atlantic current that protects Europe from the Arctic cold - is cooling fast and might even disappear completely. Without the Gulf Stream, Europe would likely be hit with its worst winter in 1,000 years as a result of a weather phenomenon dubbed La Nina.
Severe snowstorms will strike Britain this winter and last through February, according to an independent British weather forecaster. The lowest temperature will reach minus 22 C. And forecasts in Russia predict that the lowest temperature will appear in January, hitting minus 25 C.
However, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said Tuesday that European meteorologists' predictions of extreme weather as a result of La Nina lacks scien-tific evidence, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
La Nina refers to a large pool of unusually cold water in the equatorial Pacific that develops every few years and affects global weather conditions. It is the opposite of El Nino, which is a warming of the Pacific.
Although La Nina has a global influence on weather, its direct influence is limited only to the tropical Pacific region, and its influence on the weather in the mid-high latitude regions is indirect and complicated, according to the report.
The report also cited the CMA as saying the impact of La Nina has not been confirmed.
Statistics show that since the mid-20th century, the winter temperature in Europe has been rising progressively, not falling.
Nonetheless, the forecasts of an extremely cold winter have caused a big stir in Europe. In Moscow, heaters are flying off the shelves, with sales up 80-90 percent over last year, Russia Today reported.
The French day-ahead power contract rose to a seven-month high Monday at 57.50 euros per megawatt-hour, while its German equivalent was dealt at 57.25 euros, nearly 7 euros above day-ahead levels seen on Friday, Reuters reported.
And the reports aren't limited to Europe.
By Song Shengxia, Global Times
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