Glaciers Melting At Alarming rate

[liveweatherman]

VIENNA - Glaciers and mountain snow are melting earlier in the year than usual, meaning the water has already gone when millions of people need it during the summer when rainfall is lower, scientists warned on Monday.

"This is just a time bomb," hydrologist Wouter Buytaert said at a meeting of geoscientists in Vienna.

Those areas most at risk from a lack of water for drinking and agriculture include parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, the United States, South America and the Mediterranean. (source: msnbc.msn.com)

[Martinsville Weather]

It's just a cycle. We'll live and everything will be fine.

[greenasagourd]

Originally Posted by Martinsville Weather

It's just a cycle. We'll live and everything will be fine.

It may be a cycle, but it does have an impact for this year.

[thedude]

what the hell...is this article aimed at southern california (or any other place in the world with a Mediterranean climate) ?

Rainfall during the summer in Europe is common.

[liveweatherman]

Would this take effect in the long run? Also in Greenland and Antarctic the glaciers are also melting and losing ice in faster rate..Seems like this are visible evidence that the earth is getting hotter..

[greenasagourd]

Originally Posted by liveweatherman

Would this take effect in the long run? Also in Greenland and Antarctic the glaciers are also melting and losing ice in faster rate..Seems like this are visible evidence that the earth is getting hotter..

No one can give hard answers on predicting the future long term. Scientists can only report what is happening at present. Sometimes what is happening presently is an indication of the future, but there are no guarantees. Our earth is ever changing. IMO we should keep a watch on global warming (or chilling) & do what we can to lessen our human footprint for the sake of our planet. Extreme reactions should be avoided.

In regard to the article, some areas of the world, especially mountainous areas, depend on the amount of snow in winter & the rate of the snow melt for that year's water supply. In the short term this can effect crops, food prices, wildfires & even drinking water availability. Too much or too little water is never good. I recently read a news article that said food prices in the USA have increased 17% from last year. Ouch! Some of this increase was a direct result of the bad weather many of us experienced last year.

[Martinsville Weather]

I think nearly all of that increase, though, is due to fuel costs, and not the weather.

[liveweatherman]

Global warming yet is already being experienced through out the world..In effect on the environment are climate change which really shows..includes the fast rate of melting of glaciers,raising of sea level and Arctic shrinkage..while for the regional effect of it there are these extreme weather events..change in the timing of seasonal patterns in ecosystem..Thus this events will reflect into human life mainly in agriculture causing a extreme economic impact..