Weather wise

The past week has produced some stranger-than-average weather stories. Here are a few of them:

England: In Selby, Yorkshire, a 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged with endangering road safety by making an ice-slide on a road after he had thrown buckets of water on a road outside his home. He is believed to be the first person in Britain to be prosecuted for the offence. He pleaded guilty at a youth court but was discharged. A prosecution application or costs was also thrown out. After his release, the boy said: "I think it's daft. Making the slide was good fun at the time, but it's not now." His father commented: "I feel very angry about it. They'll want planning permission for building a snowman next."

Papua: After the worst drought in Papua New Guinea for a hundred years, heavy rain is now adding to the problem by preventing relief supplies reaching drought-stricken areas. "It's ironic," said Royal Australian Air Force Wing Commander Ken Webb, "the rain is good for the drought but its not so good for us."

Lithuania: An unusually mild winter has forced a change in arrangements for a traditional sporting event: the annual horserace over the frozen waters of Lake Sartai. For only the second time since the races began in the early 18th century, the ice on the lake was not thick enough to support the horses. The organisers this year therefore built an icetrack next to the lake, on which the horses pulled two-wheeled carts instead of the traditional sledges. There were 67 horses in the competition, which was run on Sunday and was won by Algis Vilkinis.

Peru: The city of Trujillo in Peru experienced one of the more grisly consequences of El Nino this week as 12 hours of rain caused a lagoon to burst its banks and send an avalanche of water and mud cascading down hillsides on a path that went through a cemetery. The water unearthed graves and sent coffins floating along streets through the centre of Trujillo.

Britain: The warm weather of the past week has brought early signs of spring. Hedgehogs have come out of hibernation and daffodils have begun to emerge. Temperatures as high as 14C have been recorded, which is well short of the highest February temperature on record in Britain, which was 19.4C in Cambridge in 1891. A spokeswoman for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society expressed fears of serious repercussions. "They could start mating and because the gestation period is only 32 to 36 days the hoglets could be born in snow. They would just get abandoned."