[RWebb]

contrary to what some know nothings have posted, more and larger extreme storms are happening now and appear to be outside of the "envelope" of the past century, much less 50 years

second, this is fully consistent with, and a prediction of most global warming models - the very simplified version: more heat means more energy in the atmosphere; that energy "comes out" as bigger storms & as more storms

the greater freq. of extreme weather events has harmed the ability of many areas to grow crops ---> hence commodity prices have gone up, esp. for grains* ---> several economists & political analysts have linked this rise to political instability (e.g. Egypt)

this is exactly what the Pentagon has predicted would happen; tho obviously the details cannot be foreseen

I expect it all to get worse.


* so far, food prices in the US have been buffered from this, in part b/c the cost of the actual grains are such a small part of the total cost here; but in Egypt and similar countries people often buy grains by the sack