And now the weather: heatwaves and downpours 02/02/2007 00:00

2 February 2007

MADRID — Spain can expect fewer cool days, less rain, more torrential downpours, more frequent droughts and a saltier Mediterranean.

These are the findings from a report into the global affects of climate change by the Intergovernmental Group on Climate Change, which was released on Thursday.

The Spanish environment minister, Arturo Gonzalo Aizpiri, said on Friday: "The report leaves no place for doubts and is an alarm call to governments of the world."

In the last few years, the level of the seas has risen and the melting of the glaciers has also speeded up.

Europe has heated up by 1 degree in the past century.

The production of carbon dioxide during 2005, exceeded annual natural production during the past 650,000 years.

This means there will be more torrential rains in Spain and more frequent heatwaves – probably one every three to five years, according to experts at the National Meteorological Institute.

Aizpiri said: "This is the most important which faces human-kind."

The 20th Century was also the hottest for the past 1,300 years in the northern hemisphere.

The ice caps at the North and South Poles are withdrawing.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news