Do we get more 'weather' nowadays?

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This is not a conspiracy theory thread even if it comes across like one.

I'm just wondering whether the Earth has always been like this, earthquakes, flash flooding, major floods, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, extreme weather (I know it has of course) but there seem to be major/unexpected/not known before events all over the world these days. Do we think there are more happening now because we hear about them ALL instantaneously now because of the internet and immediate communication?

Were they always happening but by the time the news filtered back, maybe a year later, to Europe that is was no longer important and attracted no widespread attention?

Are they happening more frequently because humankind have altered the landscape. Say for instance the flooding in Iowa; is that happening because of the 'instant' erosion of the ground there by the building of the damn and the construction work over the last couple of hundred years? If there were the same weather patterns that have caused the heavy rains would the same flood have happened 300 years ago but in a different pattern?

Lots of those are rhetorical questions.

Really I suppose I am asking is there anything to the 2012/Nostradamus/Biblical predictions based on previous pre-historical/early historical/legendary climate events which are now repeating themselves. I would imagine from reading the weather threads here that meteorologists have to be historians also in order to interpret weather patterns.

Sorry, this is a bit of a disjointed and inarticulate post but I hope I've got across what I wanted to ask.

19VanD87

As far as i can see the weather has been a little bit odd the last few months especially in the southern hemisphere..but as regarding the 2012 thing i really dont know what to say about that at all its been over hyped alot with the movie an all that..all i know is the earth is going through a natural cycle and seems to be picking up pace the last while..im sure someone else will give you more of a technical answer but the fact that the hurricane season this year was supposed the busiest in years it hasnt done much at all..

maquiladora

I think it is just because we are more instantly exposed to events than before. We get twitter updates on remote earthquakes minutes after they happen on our desktop/phone, whereas a few years ago we might catch a glimpse of the same quake if we happen to watch the news the next day.

mike65

Even mentioning Mayan cult nonsense blows your thread out of the water.

gbee

Too many parameters at work to answer.

For instance the 2004 tSunami was hearlded as the greatest ever, whereas in fact there had been and even bigger event around 1850 and some 300 years earlier much of this area was 'rediscovered' and isolated, with little or no fauna.

It is now believed a total depopulation had taken place from an even bigger event again, possibly killing millions and wiping out whole populations and cultures.

Weather moves in seven year cycles, 30 years cycles and many more, where they overlap there can be special events, new record breaking events but we are only recording weather for a relatively short time ~ our ice core reading show us major global extinction events and other sciences say there has been life on the planet for billion more years than we though.

Time enough for those populating the planet today, to have been wiped out regenerated.

We also have a few overdue time bombs of global extinction magnitude: The Yellowstone super volcano or the release of trillions of tonnes of trapped undersea CO2.

As with weather determination, we know some of the things that may happen, what we might not know is the actual event, like a period of heavy rain suddenly becoming a massive cloud burst to be followed by a beautiful day ~ it can be explained after the event ~ but the prediction was less reliable.

Thus, the global earthquakes are possibly a good sign, and keep in mind this is after a rather prolonged period of stillness ~ we depend on so many parameters, our existence also depends on global tectonics ripping the surface apart ~ we are now in a sweet spot ~ as this same tectonics continues, it will make the planet uninhabitable for us [again].

We are also tethering on an overdue polar shift, we know our poles have shifted in the past, regularly, so we must assume it will flip soon. Science is studying this currently, some say the pole will shift gradually, some say it will wobble or vibrate a bit ~ changing the weather a bit but not too extremely.

And more ...

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mike65 wrote: »

Even mentioning Mayan cult nonsense blows your thread out of the water.

I don't mean it to. I knew putting it in would raise a few hackles which is why I said that this is not a CT type thread. I did say the post was inarticulate and that I hoped I'd got across what I was trying to ask. All I know about the Mayan cult nonsense is a program I watched on the Discovery Channel and a few thrillers I have read with themes based around the subject.

91011

I think it more to do with filling 24 hours news channels with dramatic pictures rather than any increase in activity.

Also, because the world is now so small, there will always be an Irish / English community in almost any area affected by unusualy weather conditions, thus making the story "newsworthy" and perfect for sensationalist sky news reporting.