What's up with the weather? From drought to catastrophic storms and flooding, extreme events seem to have become the new norm in recent years. The trend, attributed by many scientists to climate change, even has a name: Global Weirding. And it's changing the way the insurance industry does business.

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Today's guest host was Tom Harrington.

Part One of The Current

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It's Thursday, May 26th.

Bob Rae is the new interim leader of the Liberal Party.

It was a bit of a surprise that he beat out former astronaut Marc Garneau ... a man with far more experience doing a job that carries no weight.

This is The Current.

Global Weirding - Katharine Hayhoe

We started this segment with a clip from a storm chaser, clearly unnerved by the tornado that swept through Joplin, Missouri on Sunday night.

The Joplin tornado will go down as the single most deadly tornado in United States history. In the end, it left at least 123 dead, hundreds injured, and what remains of the city of 50,000 in a daze.

And this was not an isolated event. There have been reports of more than 1200 twisters in the US this year and a total of 504 people have died in what seems to be shaping up as the most lethal year for tornadoes in American history. Yesterday afternoon, 20 tornadoes were spotted across the Midwest. And another string of tornado's touched down in Missouri last night.

Meanwhile, people living along the Mississippi River have endured some of the worst flooding in memory and withering drought and wildfires have consumed much of Texas and a good chunk of the American Southwest. The confluence of so much destructive extreme weather has led many climate scientists to think we've already entered a new climate regime.

Katharine Hayhoe calls it "global weirding." She's a Canadian climate scientist and associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas Tech University. She's also a contributor to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Katharine hayhoe was in Lubbock, Texas, this morning.

Global Weirding - John Christy

John Christy is one climate scientist who is not convinced that global warming is to blame for all this extreme weather. He's the Alabama State Climatologist and Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He was in Orlando, Florida today.

Global Weirding - Dr. Steven Weisbart

The debate over whether extreme weather is linked to climate change or not doesn't change the facts on the ground. People's homes and lives are being devastated by tornadoes and floods and hurricanes. Insurance companies cover a lot of the cost of that damage -- from blown off roofs to flooded-out farmland. We were joined by Dr. Steven Weisbart who is the chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute -- a not-for-profit industry association. He joined us from New York city.

Related Links:

• 2nd powerful storm system descends on central US, spawning
  tornadoes and killing at least 14 By Kristi Eaton - Associated Press
• Engineers go into Joplin hospital to assess damage By Nomaan Merchant - Associated Press
• By the Numbers: A look at the tornado that hit Joplin, Mo., and
  the 2011 tornado season - Associated Press
• Climate Change Blamed for Record Mississippi Floods
• 'Major Tornado Outbreak' Seen for Midwest By Brian K. Sullivan - Bloomberg
  
  
  

Other segments from today's show:

• Auditor General: Sheila Fraser
• Letters: Valcartier, Teen Cosmetic Surgery & Bears