THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010367
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: GENEVA LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Offering a possible preview of future weather, scientists said Tuesday that 1995 brought the world record heat, unusually severe hurricanes, unseasonable floods and a gaping ozone hole.
The World Meteorological Organization indicated the weather might be part of the pattern of global warming, but it stopped short of pinning the blame on humans.
In its report, the U.N. weather agency said 1995 was the hottest since records were first kept in 1861.
The average surface temperature was 0.72 degrees higher than in the prior three decades. Parts of Siberia were as much as 5.4 degrees warmer.
The 1995 Atlantic hurricane season included 19 tropical storms. Eleven were of hurricane strength, the second-highest total since records began in 1886.
More than 1,000 people died during the heat wave in large portions of the United States in July. In India, temperatures during June were up to 9 degrees higher than average.
Many scientists believe greenhouse gases like carbon monoxide, which trap heat, are increasing the earth's temperatures.
Many fear rising temperatures will cause droughts in previously temperate areas, increase hurricanes and melt glaciers, causing sea levels to rise.
Other scientists argue that the warming is due to natural causes.
The report said depletion of the ozone layer - largely caused by gases from human activities eating away at the earth's protective layer - started earlier and lasted longer than ever before, the report said.
The size of the ozone hole - 8.8 million square miles - was just under the 1993 record.
KEYWORDS: WEATHER by CNB