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international magazine which tracks weather activity worldwide, 19 tropical storms occurred in 1995—the second-greatest total since records began in 1871. There were 11 hurricanes, only one shy of the record set in 1969. And on August 27 and 28, 1995, a record five tropical cyclones occurred simultaneously in the Atlantic basin. In May 1995 experts recorded the busiest month for tornadoes in the history of recording these events. There were 391 tornadoes—more than 12 a day, which surpassed the previous record set in 1991 of 68 tornadoes. Not only was there the largest number of tornadoes in history but they hit a total 36 states including California, Idaho, Oregon, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. In one day, May 18, 1995, a total of 86 tornadoes cut across the middle Mississippi and lower Ohio valleys with some of the 4 1 In the July 8, 1996, issue of Time magazine, in an article entitled "Global Fever," Eugene Linden asked: fluctuations in the planet's atmospheric system? Or are they a pre-cursor of the kind of climactic upheavals that can been expected from the global warming caused by the continued build up of carbon dioxide and other so called green house gases? Scientists are still not sure, but one of the effects of the unusual stretch of weather over the past 15 years has been to alert researchers to a new and perhaps more immediate threat of the warming trend—the rapid spread of disease bearing bugs and pests." In an article in the February 27, 1997, Los Angeles Times entitled "Analysis of Winter's Wacky Weather Remains Up in the Air," staff writer Louis Sahagun discussed the dramatic weather changes that flooded Northern California, Oregon, and Washington, and left a snow-pack 200 percent larger than normal in the mountains of seven Western states. According to Sahagun's sources, the dramatic changes may have been due to global warming from man-made greenhouse gasses: "Kevin Trenberth, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research at Boulder, Colorado . . . sees a link between global warming and extreme climate changes that seem to be ‘enhancing storminess' across the nation and around the world. Trenberth . . . sides with those who believe that the rate of these changes is larger than at any other time during the past 10,000 years. So does Tom Karl, senior scientist at the National Climate Data Center in Asheville, N.C. . . . Flooding along the Mississippi River in 1993 may have been an example of that. With similar trends unfolding in Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and Canada, Karl said, ‘We may be witnessing the first discernible impact of human activity on global weather." Bad weather is not the only disaster they could spin off from small changes in global warming. To date, the average global temperature has risen 1.5 degrees centigrade since 1859. With only a few degrees increase in global temperatures some experts believe that a significant melting of the polar ice caps could occur. With only a 33 percent melting of the polar caps the global sea levels could rise as much as 150 feet. This would put a quarter of the world's population base under water. 98 strongest tornadoes in history. "Are all the bizarre weather extremes we have been having lately normal a A A startling discovery in 1996 has some experts disturbed that the polar ice caps may