CanWest: Weather goes haywire: Temperatures rising faster in Canada...

Temperatures rising faster in Canada than just about anywhere on Earth

Drought in British Columbia's rain forest. Prairie rivers running dry. Storms leaving trails of multimillion-dollar damage in Eastern Canada.

The climate has changed. The insurance industry knows it. So do savvy municipal managers and scientists amassing evidence showing temperatures are rising and impacting everything from ski conditions to wheat harvests.

"Climate change affects every Canadian and every activity we're engaged in, there's not one activity that's immune," says Don MacIver, Environment Canada's director of adaptation and impact research.

Temperatures are climbing faster in parts of Canada than almost anywhere on Earth. Permafrost and glaciers are melting, and the country has been hit by a series of storms, droughts and heat waves of unprecedented intensity.

Insects and fires are destroying vast tracts of Canada's forests. More than 300 blazes were burning in bone-dry northwestern Ontario this fall. And the mountain pine beetle, which has thrived in a succession of warm winters, has infested more than eight million hectares of B.C. forest, leaving a swath of dead trees that is visible from space.

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It's been much cooler than usual in Toronto for the past 2 months or so.

Autumn seems to be very early this year.

I recall last year I posted a message bemoaning the leaves turning in August.

than year. It's been cooler than normal and we've had more rain than usual.

A friend of mine in the Netherlands told me on Sunday that their September was the warmest on record. Go figure, even with a slightly cooler Caribbean sea and Gulf Stream following towards Europe.