2007 December: Climate
Anchor: Base Index
Other months: November January
Other areas: Business computing
education health international
Internet science social
technology Others
Topics: Aquatic causes data
denial energy environment
fires food forecasts
forests fuel ice
international invertebrates
marine mitigation modelling
national suppression transport
vertebrates water weather
See also The Guardian's archive
and current collections,
and New Scientist's special report, which is continually updated.
Jonathan Amos, Ice boat details ozone collapse, BBC, 2007 Dec. 14 (the dramatic springtime collapse of surface ozone in the Arctic has been documented by scientists)
Jonathan Amos, Arctic summers ice-free 'by 2013', BBC, 2007 Dec. 12 (scientists present one of the most dramatic forecasts for the disappearance of Arctic summer sea-ice)
Adam Morton, Eastern seaboard's wetlands in crisis, The Age, 2007 Dec. 10 (wetland areas at a 25-year low, and waterbird numbers the second-lowest on record)
Kenneth Davidson, The scarcest resource humanity has is time, The Age, 2007 Dec. 17 (the difficulty in providing "proof" that will satisfy climate sceptics creates space for politicians who will clutch at any straw to avoid hard decisions, even though the risks their inaction creates puts the Earth's ecosystem at risk of catastrophic failure)
Thomas Crowley, Comment: In the short term, there'll be no major action against climate change, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 11 (to tackle global warming we need a shift in attitudes unprecedented in peace time)
Religion and the environment: A cross of green, Economist, 2007 Dec. 1 (in contrast to 1997, when the religious right led denunciations of the deal negotiated in Kyoto, many of today's evangelicals want America to be generous and constructive)
Carmel Egan, Feast or famine? For too many, it's the latter, The Age, 2007 Dec. 23 (as grocery prices soar, charities prepare to feed more families than ever)
Andrew Martin, Food and fuel compete for land, IHT, 2007 Dec. 18 (the results are working their way through the marketplace, in one view, with overall consumer grocery costs up roughly 5 percent in a year and feed costs up more than 20 percent)
Elisabeth Rosenthal, World food stocks dwindling rapidly, UN warns, IHT, 2007 Dec. 17 (in an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned)
UN warns on soaring food prices, BBC, 2007 Dec. 17 (dramatic rises in international food prices are threatening millions of people in poor countries, the UN warns)
David Barboza, Fish out of water a mounting threat to China's exports, The Age, 2007 Dec. 17 (a booming industry has transformed China into the world's biggest producer and exporter of seafood; but that growth is threatened by acute water shortages, and by water contaminated by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural pesticides; the fish farms are discharging polluted wastewater into the water supply)
Food prices: Cheap no more, Economist, 2007 Dec. 8 (rising incomes in Asia and ethanol subsidies in America have put an end to a long era of falling food prices)
Food prices: The end of cheap food, Economist, 2007 Dec. 8 (rising food prices are a threat to many; they also present the world with an enormous opportunity)
Jonathan Watts, Riots and hunger feared as demand for grain sends food costs soaring, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 4 (expert to warn industry of threats to world supply; biofuels and Chinese boom put pressure on harvests)
Denise Gadd, Vegie growers carry the can for everyone else, The Age, 2007 Dec. 3 (hundreds of gardeners have signed an online petition asking the State Government to grant an exemption under the restrictions to allow them extra water for vegetable and herb plots)
James Kirby, Skyrocketing food prices the real issue, not GM, The Age, 2007 Dec. 2 (I thought the big fuss about GM canola being approved was all about whether Australia would allow genetically modified plants into the region; it turns out they've been growing genetically modified cotton in NSW for the past five years)
Chee Chee Leung, Warmer summer tipped, The Age, 2007 Dec. 18 (across the state, there is a 75% to 80% chance of above-average maximum temperatures—stronger odds than the previous outlook for December to February)
Cosima Marriner, Australia in the eye of growing storm, The Age, 2007 Dec. 12 (Australia will be one of the developed countries "most damaged" by climate change unless it acts urgently, Professor Ross Garnaut warned yesterday before heading for the climate change conference in Bali)
Roger Harrabin, Climate change goal 'unreachable', BBC, 2007 Dec. 10 (the climate change goal of stabilising greenhouse gas emissions is unreachable, and the world is more than 50% likely to experience dangerous levels of climate change, according to science advisers to the UK and German governments)
Peter Munro, Global swarming, The Age, 2007 Dec. 9 (the rise of low-cost airlines is bringing Australia closer to the rest of the world - but what kind of future are we flying towards?)
Megan Byrne and Stephen Cauchi, Dams low, mercury high: time for a dip, The Age, 2007 Dec. 30 (the Country Fire Authority has warned of the risk of bushfires as temperatures across the state are set to soar this week)
David Campbell, Bushfires: a matter of when, not if, The Age, 2007 Dec. 29 (everybody on holiday down the coast should take responsibility for their own safety)
Lindsay Murdoch, Call for more trees to stop landslides, The Age, 2007 Dec. 28 (President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called for the mass planting of trees throughout Indonesia as rescuers dug through mud in search of survivors from a Central Java landslide that left at least 120 people dead or missing)
Climate change and forests: So hard to see the wood for the trees, Economist, 2007 Dec. 22 (good news, but no certainty of salvation, for forests and their friends)
Mark Poynter, Sustainable logging doesn't add to global warming, The Age, 2007 Dec. 18 (there is a need to clearly differentiate between the damaging climate change implications of tropical deforestation and the benefits of sustainable Australian native forest wood production)
Stan Lehman, Amazon clearing falls, but eco fears stand, The Age, 2007 Dec. 9 (Brazil has announced a sharp drop in the rate of Amazon deforestation, but environmentalists warn it could be a short-term trend masking a broader threat against the rainforest)
Mark Forbes, Governors take action to save rainforests, The Age, 2007 Dec. 8 (vast tracts of tropical rainforests will be protected under a declaration signed last night by the governor of Brazil's Amazonas state and his counterparts from the Indonesian provinces of Aceh, Papua and West Papua)
Mark Forbes, Papua moves to ban all log exports, The Age, 2007 Dec. 6 (Papua will ban all log exports from next month, in a radical move to preserve one of the world's largest remaining tracts of untouched forests)
Peter Weekes, How to turn $99 million worth of trees into a $17,000 loss, The Age, 2007 Dec. 2 (the State Government sold the equivalent of 4745 MCGs of native forests to private timber companies last year for less than it cost the Government to fell the trees and ship them to the buyers)
Leader, Green energy: A ray of good news, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 29 (today's report in the Guardian of a possible breakthrough in solar power is to be celebrated; if all comes good, it will mean photovoltaic cells can be produced nearly as easily and quickly as on a printing press)
Terry Macalister, Shell taps into coal methane in China, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 27 (Shell has expanded its interests in China by taking control of a new project to meet some of the country's burgeoning energy demand)
Bloomberg, China to develop renewable energy, IHT, 2007 Dec. 26 (China promised Wednesday to develop renewable energy for its fast-growing economy but warned that coal consumption would grow dramatically; it also avoided embracing binding limits on its greenhouse gas emissions)
Clifford Krauss, Congress proposes a giant leap to ethanol for auto fuel, IHT, 2007 Dec. 18 (the goals of Congress are so sweeping, analysts say, that it is not clear they can be achieved)
George Monbiot, Comment: We've been suckered again by the US. So far the Bali deal is worse than Kyoto, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 17 (America will keep on wrecking climate talks as long as those with vested interests in oil and gas fund its political system)
Terry Macalister, Big Oil talks clean but spends dirty, The Age, 2007 Dec. 16 (despite public pronouncements about renewable energy, two of the world's largest oil companies have done deals reflecting old ways)
Steve Shallhorn, Nature gives us all we need to tackle climate change, The Age, 2007 Dec. 13 (it's a no-brainer: renewable energy trumps nuclear at every level)
A greener way to recover methane, BBC, 2007 Dec. 12 (oil reservoirs could have an environmental make-over with the help of bacteria, researchers say)
Terry Macalister, Shell plans to take on greener tinge by growing algae, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 12 (Shell is going to grow marine algae to convert into biofuel, the oil company announced yesterday)
Reuters, Soy, corn soar on biofuel hopes, The Age, 2007 Dec. 12 (soybean and corn futures surge amid hopes for a mandate to boost biofuel production five-fold by 2022)
Allegra Stratton, Fuel protesters set for weekend of action, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 11 (the group behind the 2000 refinery blockades has announced it will stage fresh protests on Saturday)
Juliette Jowit, Business runs out of green energy supply, Observer, 2007 Dec. 9 (Britain is running out of renewable energy as a surge in demand from businesses has outstripped electricity by wind farms, hydropower and waste gas burning)
Technology Quarterly: Heat from the street, Economist, 2007 Dec. 8 (a clever new system uses asphalted roads, rather than solar panels, to collect solar energy in order to heat an office building; part of a special report)
David L Stern, Kazakhstan seeks settlement on oil field delay, IHT, 2007 Dec. 7 (Kazakhstan wants either to raise its stake or receive compensation for cost overruns and delays in the Kashagan offshore field, the world's largest oil find in more than three decades)
US lawmakers approve energy bill, BBC, 2007 Dec. 7 (an energy bill that would require the first rise in vehicle fuel efficiency in more than 30 years has been passed by the US House of Representatives)
Terry Macalister, Greenpeace threatens BP over Canada plans, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 6 (campaigner says BP will be involved in the 'greatest climate crime' in history by backing oil sands projects)
Reuters, US Democrats agree on higher fuel standards, The Age, 2007 Dec. 2 (Democrats in the US House of Representatives have agreed on a bill to raise automotive fuel efficiency standards by 40 percent by 2020)
Philips: Bright idea, Economist, 2007 Dec. 1 (low-energy illumination is lighting up the Dutch electronics giant)
Hilary Benn, Comment: With the will, we can save the Earth, Observer, 2007 Dec. 30 (the world now understands that climate change is not just an environmental problem. It's also a security, economic, political and migration problem)
Elisabeth Rosenthal, In a northern Italian village, a tropical epidemic, IHT, 2007 Dec. 21 (aided by global warming and globalization, Castiglione Di Cervia has the dubious distinction of playing host to the first outbreak in modern Europe of a disease that had previously been seen only in the tropics)
Tim Shipman, The big boom as doom looms, The Age, 2007 Dec. 24 (global warming has led to a new travel boom as holidaymakers embrace what tour operators call doomsday tourism - the urge to see the world before its endangered parts disappear forever)
John Garnaut, China fights warming on two fronts, The Age, 2007 Dec. 21 (China vowes to continue its own fight against global warming, and gives support for Kevin Rudd's plan for a "bridge" between the developed and developing worlds)
Roger Harrabin, Ministers 'to reject airline cap', BBC, 2007 Dec. 18 (EU ministers are poised to agree a deal on aviation that would see aircraft emissions continue to rise)
Daniel Flitton, Climate change brings a potential for conflict between nations, The Age, 2007 Dec. 18 (the movement of people, alone, could cause border tensions)
Jonathan Amos, Brown urged to resist coal rush, BBC, 2007 Dec. 14 (a prominent US climate scientist makes a personal plea to the UK and Germany to block new coal-fired power stations)
Climate talks 'heading to deal', BBC, 2007 Dec. 14 (a deal appears likely on the final day of UN climate talks in Bali, following bitter arguments about emissions cuts)
Richard Wachman, Water becomes the new oil as world runs dry, Observer, 2007 Dec. 9 (western companies have the know-how - and the financial incentive - to supply water to poor nations; but their involvement is already provoking unrest)
Nusa Dua, Australia talks tough, The Age, 2007 Dec. 9 (Australia has signalled a tough stance at climate change talks in Bali, saying poorer countries also need to make binding commitments to stem global warming)
Mark Forbes, All talk, no action, say Indonesians, The Age, 2007 Dec. 6 (Indonesia has hit out at developed countries for presenting "empty propaganda" during climate change talks in Bali and stalling proposals to pay to protect the world's forests)
Jonathan Freedland, Comment: We would be fools to banish global business from the great climate battle, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 5 (capitalism alone won't save the planet, but it has a critical, innovative role to play; the alternative is to rely on a revolution)
George Monbiot, Comment: This crisis demands a reappraisal of who we are and what progress means, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 4 (outdated figures have been hiding the full extent of climate change; but I am still advocating action, and not despair)
Climate change: Struggling to decode Bali's message, Economist, 2007 Dec. 1 (a green jamboree in Indonesia will not achieve anything tangible, but it matters)
Religion and the environment: A cross of green, Economist, 2007 Dec. 1 (in contrast to 1997, when the religious right led denunciations of the deal negotiated in Kyoto, many of today's evangelicals want America to be generous and constructive)
Sam Jones, 2007 was year of chaos for UK's wildlife, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 27 (the unpredictable and extreme weather of the last 12 months has wreaked havoc on Britain's wildlife, the National Trust said)
Ian Sample, Acidic seas may kill 98% of world's reefs by 2050, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 14 (the majority of the world's coral reefs are in danger of being killed off by rising levels of greenhouse gases, scientists warn)
Winston Tan, Fears of 'worst shark season ever' as sea heats up, The Age, 2007 Dec. 30 (a shark expert has warned that Victoria's "shocking" approach to beach safety could put swimmers at risk as the state faces what could be its worst shark season, due to global warming)
Rising seas 'to beat predictions', BBC, 2007 Dec. 17 (global sea levels could rise twice as high this century as UN climate scientists had predicted, a study suggests)
Nusa Dua, Coral 'facing extinction', The Age, 2007 Dec. 9 (six South-East Asian and Pacific nations have launched a joint initiative to save the "coral triangle" that contains more than half the world's reefs, considered building blocks for marine life)
Juliette Jowit, Go green—you'll save more than just the planet, Observer, 2007 Dec. 30 (the new year is the time to get your finances in order - and resolving to cut emissions can be a practical financial decision)
Claudia H Deutsch, Academia crosses disciplinary lines to address global warming, IHT, 2007 Dec. 25 (the political landscape of academia, combined with the fight for grant money, has always fostered competition far more than collaboration; but the push to stop global warming may change that)
Ed Douglas, Wilder parks can tame climate change threat, Observer, 2007 Dec. 23 (Britain's National parks must undergo a conservation revolution if they are to meet the challenges of climate change and the introduction of new farming practices)
Michael Backman, Population is key to cutting emissions, The Age, 2007 Dec. 19 (the ultimate cause of greenhouse gases?; excessive reliance on cars?; coal-fired power stations?; clear-felling forests?; the answer is none of these; the ultimate cause is people and population growth)
Ashley Seager, Planning boost for green homes, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 17 (the government will today publish a new planning policy as it gears up for the introduction of carbon-free homes from 2016)
Geoff Strong, The houses that Earth built, The Age, 2007 Dec. 17 (saving the planet one house at a time: four families doing their bit)
Kristina Gjerde, Hold back the geo-engineering tide, BBC, 2007 Dec. 11 (Projects that add nutrients to the world's oceans in order to create algal blooms that will absorb more carbon from the atmosphere are scientifically unsound, argues the high seas policy advisor to the World Conservation Union)
George Monbiot, Comment: The real answer to climate change is to leave fossil fuels in the ground, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 11 (all the talk in Bali about cutting carbon means nothing while ever more oil and coal is being extracted and burned)
Paul Austin, Nats push law for recycled water, The Age, 2007 Dec. 10 (Melbourne households and industries would be forced to use more recycled water under legislation to be introduced in State Parliament)
Gabriella Coslovich, Designing the future, The Age, 2007 Dec. 8 (it's been called a galleon and a zeppelin and now this architect's Cape Schanck home is a major award winner; the home's most distinctive and celebrated feature is a large, curvaceous white rainwater tank, situated smack in the middle of the living room)
AFP, Quest to make cattle fart like marsupials, The Age, 2007 Dec. 6 (Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say)
Carbon capture plan for the Forth, BBC, 2007 Dec. 3 (research into capturing carbon dioxide produced by power stations and burying it beneath the Forth gets funding)
Adam Morton, Changing climate runs hot and cold, The Age, 2007 Dec. 14 (it has been the seventh warmest year on record, part of the hottest decade on record, but 2007, or at least its first 11 months, was also a time of climactic extremes)
Tania Branigan, Families and firms warned of rising temperatures, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 8 (UK already hit by climate change, with temperatures in central England rising by around 1C since 1970s, says report)
Helen Briggs, 50 years on: The Keeling Curve legacy, BBC, 2007 Dec. 1 (how one of the most famous graphs in science—showing how carbon dioxide has risen in the atmosphere—has become a scientific icon)
David Rood, 'Double standards' jibe over water pipeline, The Age, 2007 Dec. 29 (a controversial plan to pipe water from the Goulburn Valley to Melbourne will not be scrutinised in an environmental effects statement)
Jewel Topsfield and Josh Gordon, Sheep flocks wither as crippling drought dries up farms, The Age, 2007 Dec. 21 (Australia falls off the proverbial sheep's back, with the protracted Big Dry reducing the national flock to its lowest level since 1924)
Mathew Murphy, Victoria urged to cut dirty industry subsidies, The Age, 2007 Dec. 17 (the State Government must reconsider subsidies granted to heavily polluting, energy-intensive industries or risk undermining the credibility of its climate change policies, an independent watchdog says)
Tony Cutcliffe, Utilities are wasting our precious water, The Age, 2007 Dec. 14 (the desalination plant will create a glut of very expensive water)
Marian Wilkinson, Climate change action at what political price?, The Age, 2007 Dec. 13 (Mr Rudd has already split with the US on climate change by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. And yesterday he embraced robust 2020 targets for Australia that will be guided by scientific evidence; but to go a step further and embrace the draft Bali text would put Australia at a much greater distance from its old allies and antagonise sections of the business community at home)
Marian Wilkinson, Climate pinch on Australia, The Age, 2007 Dec. 10 (developed countries such as Australia will need to make deep cuts to their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 if the world is to avoid the worst impacts of climate change)
Michelle Grattan, Shaped by two cultures, The Age, 2007 Dec. 8 (Climate Change Minister Penny Wong is a high flyer in the Rudd cabinet; ambitious and industrious, she is nevertheless an intensely private person)
Vanessa Burrow and Marian Wilkinson, Farms face climate devastation, The Age, 2007 Dec. 6 (Australia could suffer a massive decline in farm production and agricultural export earnings in coming decades unless it can halt climate change or adapt to it, a report to the Federal Government warns)
Kenneth Davidson, Australia can lead the way on climate, The Age, 2007 Dec. 6 (the science of climate change is pushing public opinion faster than politicians can adjust)
Marian Wilkinson and Mark Forbes, Heat on Rudd ahead of visit to Bali climate talks, The Age, 2007 Dec. 6 (Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is facing international pressure to move more quickly than he had planned to back a new, post-Kyoto agreement for rich nations, including Australia, to slash their greenhouse emissions)
Tim Colebatch, The global warming battle: united we stand, divided we fall, The Age, 2007 Dec. 4 (an environmental warrior, Ross Garnaut, has returned to the fray to advise Kevin Rudd)
Sam Jones, 2007 was year of chaos for UK's wildlife, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 27 (the unpredictable and extreme weather of the last 12 months has wreaked havoc on Britain's wildlife, the National Trust said)
William Yardley, In duck blinds, visions of global warming, IHT, 2007 Dec. 11 (from the "prairie potholes" of Canada and the upper Midwest to the destination states of Arkansas and Louisiana, the rhythms of the cross-continental migratory bird route known as the Mississippi Flyway are changing)
AFP, Quest to make cattle fart like marsupials, The Age, 2007 Dec. 6 (Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say)
Dams head for record end-of-year low, The Age, 2007 Dec. 16 (Melbourne's water storages could finish the year at a record December low, despite water restrictions and a late-breaking La Niña)
Orietta Guerrera, Murray storages at 67-year low, The Age, 2007 Dec. 11 (Murray river storages are at their lowest level for early summer since 1940 with recent rain having little impact on water supplies in the nation's food bowl)
Paul Austin, Nats push law for recycled water, The Age, 2007 Dec. 10 (Melbourne households and industries would be forced to use more recycled water under legislation to be introduced in State Parliament)
Randal C Archibold, Federal pact would allocate Colorado River water to Western states, IHT, 2007 Dec. 9 (facing the worst drought in a century and the prospect that climate change could yield long-term changes on the Colorado River, the lifeline for several Western states, federal officials have reached a new pact with the states on how to allocate water if the river runs short)
Royce Millar, Oasis on the brink of disaster, The Age, 2007 Dec. 8 (Mildura, Victoria's prolific northern food bowl, is dying of thirst as drought takes a stranglehold)
Chee Chee Leung, Residents of dying lake get chance to slip into something more comfortable, The Age, 2007 Dec. 8 (years of drought have prompted authorities to begin shifting fish from Lake Mokoan, near Benalla, which has dried up to just 10% of capacity)
Rachel Kleinman, Gas-fired station may power desal plant, The Age, 2007 Dec. 8 (a new gas-fired power station may fuel the state's desalination plant under plans being considered by the Government)
Water in the West: Nor any drop to drink, Economist, 2007 Dec. 8 (gripped by drought, America's West is rethinking how it uses water)
Winston Tan, Sandhurst—the suburb where Wallies are welcome, The Age, 2007 Dec. 2 (the first suburb connected to recycled water won't face the kind of problems that blighted vegetables grown using recycled effluent at Werribee last year, Water Minister Tim Holding says)
Sarah-Jane Collins and Ben Schneiders, 2007: Victoria's hottest year on record, bureau says, and last day could be the hottest one yet, The Age, 2007 Dec. 31 (preliminary data from the Bureau of Meteorology reveals a year of extremes across the state, with the average temperature up about one degree from the long-term average)
AP, Insured losses from natural disasters nearly doubled in 2007, IHT, 2007 Dec. 27 (losses to insurers from natural disasters nearly doubled this year to just below $30 billion globally after an unusually quiet 2006, a leading reinsurer said Thursday, from winter storms in Europe, flooding in Britain and wildfires in the United States)
Jo Tuckman, Global warming brings busy year for UN disaster teams, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 28 (the UN office that helps governments deal with natural disasters was busier than ever in Latin America this year, a fact it at least partially blames on climate change)
Wawan Irawan Tawangmangu, Scores dead or missing in Java landslides, floods, The Age, 2007 Dec. 27 (landslides caused by torrential rains have left 75 people dead or missing in Indonesia's Central Java province)
AP, U.S. travelers warned about road conditions following storm blamed for 19 deaths, IHT, 2007 Dec. 24 (holiday travelers on Monday faced treacherous highways in America's upper Midwest in the aftermath of a blustery snowstorm that left thousands without power, snarled air travel and was blamed for at least 19 deaths)
Dewi Cooke and Martin Boulton, City gets a bucketing during a wild day, The Age, 2007 Dec. 21 (the state's SES received 850 calls for help yesterday, most of them concentrated in the south-eastern suburbs where the wildest weather occurred)
Maggie Gee and Gideon Mendel, Drowned worlds, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 20 (this summer, torrential rains deluged India and Britain; millions of people in the poverty-stricken state of Bihar, and thousands across England, were driven from their homes; photographer Mendel recorded both floods in a series of images that reveal striking contrasts between the disasters - but also unexpected resonances)
Phil Daoust, Will the skiing be better this winter?, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 17 (could it possibly be worse?; last winter's heatwave was disastrous for many European resorts, especially early in the season)
Ian Sample, UK heading for second hottest year on record, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 14 (Britain is on course for its second warmest year since records began, according to climate scientists at the Met Office)
Robin McKie, Floods and storms to hit UK, Observer, 2007 Dec. 9 (a total of 30 flood warnings were issued by the Environment Agency last night, as the UK braced itself for a hammering from heavy rain and winds strong enough to bring down trees and damage properties)
John Vidal, Downpours cost £3bn, says agency, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 7 (the wettest weather in modern times flooded more than 55,000 properties and saw the highest river levels in 60 years)
Rachel La Corte, Storms hit US north-west, Guardian, 2007 Dec. 6 (storms in the US states of Washington and Oregon killed at least seven people, flooded homes and washed out roads)