Tuesday, August 28, 2007

And here's the weather summary - 'Extreme'

By now we have pretty much all recognised that our traditional British weather does not appear to be quite what it used to be. Today's Indy has a fascinating article on the extremes of weather that we, along with others around our little planetary lump of rock, have suffered over recent years. And yes, it all appears to be entirely consistent with global warming.

"in the UK alone, in the past 14 months we have experienced the hottest July, the hottest April and the wettest June since records began. We have seen the hottest autumn and the hottest spring, and the second-hottest winter. We have also seen the hottest single month, and - by a considerable margin - the hottest single 12-month period."

And if we manage just a few more millilitres of rainfall before August is out, then 2007 will have been the wettest ever summer on record!

Meanwhile, this from WSWS, reports on research that predicts that great tracts of Spain are set to become desert before too long! (Maybe we will see ex-pat migration coming back the other way in 20 or 30 years or so?)

Yet, despite the daily evidence of climate change, our own leaders continue to provide no cohesive climate change messages. Just days after downgrading the status of the parliamentary climate change committee to a toothless waste of time, the government requests a study to look at putting in place additional flood protection for London! It would appear that the Thames barrier (as reported by the Beeb) may not be up to the job it was designed to do as soon as 2030!

A new Thames barrier is predicted to cost some £20 Billion. Anyone care to take a wager that this will be at least £50 Billion by the time it gets built?

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