Climate surprises

A report released today (see also here) that Arctic sea ice has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year is striking but by no means surprising.

More unexpected, it seems, was Hurricane Catarina, which struck Southern Brazil in March 2004.

This, Fred Pearce reported last week, is "the first and only hurricane recorded in the South Atlantic, where the textbooks say hurricanes should not form". Hurricanes are not expected in the South Atlantic until 2070 so Catarina may be an ominous sign that global warming is already making itself felt.