Sorry, but yes, there’s more of this on the way
WE live in very strange and interesting times, not only politically but meteorologically, and we still have a quarter of the year to go with plenty of time yet for more stuff to happen.
But 2018 will certainly go down as one of those years to be remembered – for the good, the bad and the really ugly.
Fresh from vicious Storm Ali and before that the slightly quieter remnants of Hurricane Helene, we have another storm on the horizon for this Sunday into Monday – though this one, (likely to be named Storm Bronagh) has the ashes of Hurricane Florence within, and is currently set to be of more concern to England and Wales than it is to Scotland. Watch this space.
All these intense weather happenings started back in the winter of 2017-18, not so much the first half, which was relatively tame, but across the second half which stretched into the spring that never was thanks to the Beast from the East.
Now at this point I’ll claim a tiny bit of fame, in that it was I who came up with that name more than a decade ago, writing about another winter freeze.
The Beast on this most recent occasion had some very big teeth and just when we thought global warming was putting paid to such winters, up popped one that caused havoc from start to finish and, like a starving dog with a bone, would not let go until we were well past Easter.
It should be said that global warming, or climate change for that matter, does not mean a decrease in snowy or wintry activity.
Indeed, if we do get stuck in what I call a ‘weather rut’ with more heat and therefore more energy in the atmosphere and in our oceans, I believe it will be the reverse and we will see more Beasts from the East and other such big beasts from elsewhere, as opposed to fewer.
The same thought pattern may also apply to the dry and hot periods, as per the summer just gone, or indeed to a cool and mixed summer – which is the UK standard, particularly north of the Border.
In short, expect weather spells to become periods and periods to become months.
IT’S not down to climate change alone. Indeed, it is mainly standard weather which we see from time to time and always have. But – and it’s a big but – whether storms, heatwaves, drought, flood or snow, there appears to be an increasing tendency for weather patterns to be hanging around for much longer and be much more intense.
Let’s call it the icing on the cake or, in the case of heatwaves, the candle.
Although it is impossible to attach a climate change topping to every event, after more than 40 years in this business I am more and more sure the potency of various events is increasing virtually everywhere.
Strange and interesting times indeed.