Dr. TRENBERTH: That's one of the - that's one of the ironical things that people don't understand, I find, about global warming, is that ironically you can get more snow as a consequence, in part, of global warming.

NPR: Can Climate Change Explain Odd Weather?

Durang flings all kinds of references into his word processor: Angelina Jolie, Snow White, Maggie Smith, global warming, Norma Desmond, William Penn, "Peter Pan, " the HBO show "Entourage, " Lindsay Lohan, ancient Greek drama, voodoo and, as the title suggests, a big dollop of Anton Chekhov.

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But it first attracted wide public attention in 2001 when Professor Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University forecast that Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) will have lost its famous snow-capped peak by 2015 if current predictions on global warming are maintained.

UNESCO: 83e

While earthquakes have often been blamed for rock failures and landslides on mountain slopes, scientists also point at global temperature rises for rapid thawing of snowfields and glacial melt that can disturb the flow of snow-fed rivers.

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The Costa Rican Football Federation filed a complaint with soccer's global governing body, FIFA, arguing that markings on field weren't visible, and suggesting the snow affected the "physical integrity" of the players and hampered movement of the ball.

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