Many countries in the northern hemisphere are being plunged into a white winter, a number of weeks before winter even starts.

In a reverse to New Zealand’s early summer countries like England, Scotland, America and a number of other nations have had huge early snowfalls.

Flights across Britain and Europe have been grounded while motorists facing snow drifts of 2 metres (same height as the common door inside your house) trapped motorists for a day in New York state.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says the cold snaps overseas and the heatwave at home appear to reflect what scientists have been warning about for the past decade.

Many scientists says climate change is about global extremes and not just hotter weather.

In an interview with Newstalk ZB in Wellington on Saturday Philip Duncan – head weather analyst at WeatherWatch.co.nz – said that the title “global warming” has probably done more harm for the scientists’ cause than anything else.  “While temperatures do seem to be reflecting an upward trend, overall, the planet is seeing what appears to be more extremes”.

“Whether it’s big snow storms in the north or droughts back home, there’s certainly no denying the past few years have seen some rather significant global extremes”.

But Mr Duncan wouldn’t be drawn into whether or not it was related to the affect humans have had on the planet.  “This is certainly still early days in any trend.  Trends take years, if not decades, to become clear weatherwise however there have certainly been many cases of costly weather events in recent years”.

Weather analyst Richard Green says he sees it not as global warming but instead as global extremes.  “To me it’s never been about global warming it’s been about global extremes” he said speaking to Newstalk ZB drive host Larry Williams earlier this year.

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