"U.S. Weather Extremes Show "New Normal" Climate"

"Heavy rains, deep snowfalls, monster floods and killing droughts are signs of a 'new normal' of extreme U.S. weather events fueled by climate change, scientists and government planners said on Wednesday.

'It's a new normal and I really do think that global weirding is the best way to describe what we're seeing,' climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University told reporters.

'We are used to certain conditions and there's a lot going on these days that is not what we're used to, that is outside our current frame of reference,' Hayhoe said on a conference call with other experts, organized by the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists."

Deborah Zabarenko reports for Reuters May 19, 2011.

Source: Reuters, 05/19/2011