4th May - Today's News: At least 28 Dead in US Floods

36.3mm of rain fell in Evesham on Saturday evening though into Sunday morning (making us one of the wettest places in Britain), and on Sunday the daytime maxima was just 9.3c. This morning it fell to 0.8c - just above my lowest ever May minima. Suddenly spring seems to have taken a u-turn ...... with the next week or so not looking especially warm either. However, no floods and in fact it was dry enough on Monday to mow the lawn.

In Tennessee on the other hand, Nashville submerged after deadly storms with at least 28 deaths and more victims feared as Tenn, floodwaters recede.

The cold weather in Britain does have one upside as skiers enjoy bank hoiliday snow on Cairngorm - and I'm expecting more snow in the Cairngorms and over other higher summits in Scotland through the coming week and possibly beyond.

Thought we'd finished with disruption from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption? Think again. Volcano ash cloud closes airspace in Ireland and Scotland again today. Eyja doesn't look like she plans on going back to sleep any time soon. Indeed, it may intensify futher this week, pushing the ash cloud higher and lead to even more disruption.

However, last month's volcano ash flight ban 'might have ended sooner' - that is if, as I have pointed out all along, the airline industry had set a proper ash tolerance levels, rather than ignoring the risks and not setting any level at all. What I wasn't previously aware was that "There had been a meeting of the volcanic ash advisory group with aero engine manufacturers in March of this year, so literally a few weeks before events unfolded". I am slightly reassured by CAA chief executive Andrew Haines' speculation that "I suspect that manufacturers knew much of this, that they knew there was an acceptable level of safety but what hadn't happened is that they were prepared to underwrite that and validate it." ie the newly set tolerance level has been properly determined and wasn't just based on test flights in April. Anyway, so much for blaming the Met Office! And there's probably more trouble ahead from volcanic ash as the impacts of aircraft hoovering up small amounts over time become known.

Can't wait to see the so-called sceptics try to tear this one apart: carbon dioxide's effects on plants increases global warming. It's well known that as CO2 increases, so plants produce fewer leaf stomata - and this in turn reduces the amount of water vapour they release into the atmosphere (evapotransipration). This water vapour acts as a local/regional air coolant. The less their is, the less the air cools or, to put it another way, the warmer the air is..... Although the conclusions are based on models, which may not be wholly accurate in terms of precise values, the principle behind this finding is absolutely sound.

Mammoth haemoglobin offers clues to its Arctic evolution

Global glaciation snowballed into giant change in carbon cycle

Cloud seeding goes high tech as they start making rain clouds with lasers - at least the chemtrailer's won't confuse them with contrails!

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