People all over are asking: What's happening to the weather? It's almost as if extreme weather has become the norm - an epidemic of ferocious, killer, catastrophic weather everywhere. Further, the seasons seem to be out of whack, certainly not what our teachers and parents told us it would be like.

Is the global climate going through unprecedented change? Is our weather becoming more extreme? And, if so, are people responsible or is it external forces? Or both? Some experts suggest that we may be witnessing the beginning of a profound climate change and bad weather may be proof of an overheated, out-of-control planet.

There is so much we don't know about the Earth's climate system. But what has become clear is that the planet is warming and the number of weather-related disasters is on the rise. We can no longer assume that conditions in the past will apply in the future. Coping with more variable and uncertain weather will take more ingenuity and adaptability – something Canadians are good at. We also should expect more accurate, timely and credible long-lead weather forecasts.

Dr. Paul Bullock

Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba

Climate change has been cited as a concern for future crop production but in Canada there are also some potential benefits. Do the positive impacts of climate change on crop productivity outweigh the negative impacts? Are secondary impacts of climate change more important? Is the weak link in our predictions related to our limited understanding of the interactions of all these effects? This presentation will focus on the current state of our knowledge to help us identify the gaps and better answer these critical questions.

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