HUNGARY: Unusually warm weather brings out blossoming flowers and prompts government to focus on the future of Hungary's climate

Record ID: 259920

  • Title: HUNGARY: Unusually warm weather brings out blossoming flowers and prompts government to focus on the future of Hungary's climate
  • Date: 15th January 2007
  • Summary: (CEEF) BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (JANUARY 11, 2007) (REUTERS) MOTHER AND CHILD WALKING IN FRONT OF BLOSSOMING FLOWERS IN THE ZOO FAMILY ON BENCH IN FRONT OF BLOSSOMING FLOWERS BLOSSOMING FLOWERS
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVA7AJ8AJ5MILSIOB6A44GC47J8H
  • Story Text: The warm weather in Eastern Europe continues, in Hungary people are sunbathing, but environmental minister Miklos Persanyi warns that the unusual weather means that they have to rethink their energy politics. Budapest residents are taking advantage of the unusually warm and sunny winter on Friday (January 12), as they enjoy sunbathing on benches around the city park lake. Normally, scenes like these are characteristic of early March, not early January.
    Doctors say people who usually suffer winter depression are doing well this season as sunny weather has replaced the dark winter days. Over the past few weeks heat records were broken across Hungary with top temperatures reaching 17.5 Celsius in a northern town.
    In the past few days flowers which normally only open up in late February or March have begun to blossom.
    In the gardens of the Budapest Zoo a Japanese flower that usually comes out in February is now showing its pretty purple colour.
    A yellow flower called 'Winter farewell' in Hungarian has also blossomed, and even the cherry tree seems to believe it is March.
    But the continuing warm weather will pose several problems for Hungary.
    The most immediate is the drought that could have severe effects on the spring crops.
    The other problem is the long-term energy strategies of the country. The Hungarian Minister of Environmental Protection and Water Management, Miklos Persanyi warned of the ongoing climate change at a news conference on Thursday (January 11). He said Hungary must rethink its energy future.
    "Hungary can achieve the EU [emission] goal. The country can fulfil the obligations, but we have to envisage a different energy future than we predicted ten years ago which was based on growing energy needs and the idea that we would be able to meet those needs. I think we need to re-define the Hungarian energy policy, this is included in the plans of the government and we will shortly put it on the agenda," Persanyi said.
    Climate change experts like Miklos Zagoni warn that global warming will have varied and less predictable effects on the regional levels. In the southern part of the Carpathian Basin drought will be a problem, while in the north rainfall will increase.
    "While there is a global rise, to a small extent, it is manifested regionally in the spread of the climate dynamics. The system of the earth reacts, it defends itself against the global warming, against the warming effect of Co2 carried in by men. And as the climate reacts to this, different effects are seen in different regions," Zagoni said.
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