World Weather News In Brief 19 May 2011

A round up of weather and earth science-related news from around the world.

USA: Climate scientists at Texas Tech University are claiming that severe flooding, heavy snowfalls, and prolonged  droughts are signs of a “new normal” of extreme U.S. weather events fuelled by climate change.  They said an upsurge in heavy rainstorms in the United States has coincided with prolonged drought, sometimes in the same location, and noted that west Texas has seen a record-length dry period over the last five years, even as there have been two 100-year rain events.  Scientists, civic planners and a manager at the giant Swiss Re reinsurance firm have all cited human-caused climate change as an factor pushing this shift toward more extreme weather.

Read the rest of the story at Irish Weather Online