Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he ''suspects'' Tim Flannery, the head of Australia's Climate Commission, would be made redundant if Mr Abbott becomes prime minister.
Mr Abbott has pledged to abolish the Climate Commission - the federal government's agency for explaining climate science to the public - if elected, along with repealing the carbon price.
''When the carbon tax goes, all of those bureaucracies will go and I suspect we might find that the particular position you refer to goes with them,'' Mr Abbott told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbott-to-shoot-messenger-on-climate-20130403-2h776.html#ixzz2PRf1petF

At least 10 are dead after sudden rains caused flooding in Mauritius's capital city of Port Louis on Saturday.

At least eight of the victims were in underground areas when the flood waters rose rapidly. Another died of a heart attack.

Meteorologists on the island said 152 millimeters (6 inches) of rain fell in less than an hour, 70 millimeters less than the average for the entire month of March.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/130331/mauritius-floods-kill-10

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BUENOS AIRES — Record flash floods in Argentina have killed at least 52 people this week, officials said on Wednesday, destroying thousands of homes and renewing tensions as politicians blamed one another for the high death toll.      

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/world/americas/record-flooding-kills-dozens-in-Argentina.html?hp&_r=0 

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Meanwhile at IA:

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/environment/weather/climate-commission-extreme-weather-threatens-australia/

Britain's weather excelled itself last week. It produced an Easter Sunday that was the coldest on record in the UK. Temperatures stuck below zero in many regions; freezing conditions continued to disrupt transport; and experts warned of increasing threats to animals and birds already struggling to survive loss of habitat and climate change. The start of British Summer Time last Sunday night was marked in Braemar by temperatures that fell to -11C. For good measure, an unappetising April looks likely to follow this misery.

The persistence of the spring's grim weather is particularly striking for it comes after a series of other extreme meteorological events in recent years. Last winter, a severe drought triggered stern warnings by the Environment Agency that water rationing and hosepipe bans would soon have to be introduced – until several months of torrential rain produced widespread flooding.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/07/science-behind-britain-coldest-easter

More records?... Welcome to the planet of accelerating global warming, folks... As predicted by the GW computer models, Pommyland is going to be colder, wetter, drier in a global warming world... Weird, but it's happening now...

Meanwhile it the new dart — the country of the ten gallon hats:

Getting Serious About a Texas-Size Drought

AUSTIN, Tex.

SOMETHING odd happened here last week.

It rained.

But the relief, an answer to desperate prayers, is likely to be short-lived. The drought that has gripped much of Texas since the fall of 2010 shows few signs of abating soon. The latest forecasts say that parched West and South Texas will remain dry, and that the state is likely to see above-average temperatures this spring, increasing evaporation from already strained reservoirs. The conditions could lead to severe water restrictions in some parts of the state.

The implications have finally sunk in among lawmakers and business leaders here, who like to boast about the economic appeal of Texas’s low taxes and relaxed regulatory environment: no water equals no business. In a state fabled for its everything-is-bigger mentality, the idea of conserving resources is beginning to take hold. They are even turning sewage into drinking water.

The overwhelmingly conservative and tightfisted Texas House of Representatives recently voted to create a fund to finance water development and conservation projects and is considering allocating $2 billion to jump-start it. The State Senate is weighing a similar measure. The state’s water plan, released last year, recommends spending $57 billion (in 2013 dollars) over the next half-century to ensure there is enough water to go around; Texas’s population of 26 million is expected to grow by 80 percent by 2060.

Texas is also suing neighboring states to get more water. The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in two weeks in one of these cases, in which the authority that supplies water to Fort Worth and fast-growing surrounding communities is demanding more water from Oklahoma. Texas has accused New Mexico of siphoning off more than its share of water from the Rio Grande. The state is likewise arguing that under an international agreement, it is entitled to more water from Mexico, which has also been stricken by drought.

Other desperately dry states in the Midwest and West are facing similar challenges. Drought has hurt farmers in New Mexico and reduced California’s crucial mountain snowpack. Even the Great Lakes are at worryingly low levels. Drought conditions in the western half of the country are likely to persist at least through June, federal forecasters have warned. Over time, as the effects of climate change become more pronounced, hotter weather and longer dry spells will continue to threaten water supplies that are essential for development.        

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/sunday-review/getting-serious-about-a-texas-size-drought.html?hp

Flights across the North Atlantic could get a lot bumpier in the future if the climate changes as scientists expect.

Planes are already encountering stronger winds, and could now face more turbulence, according to research led from Reading University, UK.

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, suggests that by mid-century passengers will be bounced around more frequently and more strongly.

The zone in the North Atlantic affected by turbulence could also increase.

Reading's Dr Paul Williams said comfort was not the only consideration; there were financial consequences of bumpier airspace as well.

"It's certainly plausible that if flights get diverted more to fly around turbulence rather than through it then the amount of fuel that needs to be burnt will increase," he told BBC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22063340

Most high altitude commercial flight fly below or in jet streams... These can be hectic and turbulent, unlike the steady trade winds on the ground... Jet streams can have cyclonic wind speed in a straight line, as well as spin around themselves while moving. some jet streams travel up to 400 kilometres an hour, all flowing west to east. There are four major circumnavigating streams around the planet... Global warming of course impacts on the behaviour of jet streams, since these are mostly heat/cold motivated.

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-the-transformation-of-switzerland-s-landscape-fotostrecke-96051.html

Gus: having seen some these glaciers more than 47 years ago, I am horrified by the melt...

Sydney's record spell of warm and dry conditions will be interrupted this weekend with the arrival of wintry conditions – but only for a day or so.
Sydney capped a record month with the mercury on Friday climbing to 24.6 degrees, meaning that in May residents endured only four days of maximum temperatures of 20 degrees or less – the fewest in more than 150 years of records.
Autumn registered only six days of days below 20 degrees, fewer than the previous record of nine in 1958, and fewer than a quarter of the 26 such days expected in an average year, according to Acacia Pepler, a climatologist at the weather bureau.
But rain is expected on Saturday afternoon and is likely to extend well into Sunday. The maximum temperature will dip to 18 degrees on Sunday before climbing back to 20-22 for the rest of the first week of winter.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/cooler-weather-to-mark-start-of-winter-20130531-2ngpb.html#ixzz2UrAplSni