adam2 wrote:Meanwhile several places in the UK have reached the highest temperatures ever recorded during winter.
Not only a new record, but in some cases the new record was broken the very next day by yet higher temperatures.
Details from news source of your choice.
Yes, the weather here on Ireland's Atlantic coast is mad for end Feb. Sunburn weather, a roasting sun tempered only with a mild easterly wind.
(Touches wood) and very few storms this 'winter'.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
The north atlantic is pretty warm anyway, which is why the UK is warmer than any other place at this lattitude in the northern hemisphere in the winter. As an example, Moscow is about the same latitude as Glasgow, yet is an average of about 10ºC colder in Nov Dec Jan Feb and March.
To become an extremist, hang around with people you agree with. Cass Sunstein
Yes I know but this is February. I want my winter back.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools - Douglas Adams.
The Indian peninsula has seen a drastic change in rainfall patterns over the past decade, marked by frequent droughts, floods and sudden storms.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools - Douglas Adams.
TPTB in France were heavily criticised for the death toll in the last extreme heat event, and have put into place various mitigation plans for this time.
40 degrees with high humidity is forecast. That is potentially dangerous without air conditioning.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
Dozens of French schools closed because they lack "sufficient air conditioning" Many more schools closed tomorrow.
"reading between the lines" I get the impression that TPTB in France are worried about a repeat of the 2003 heatwave disaster in which thousands died.
Some loss of life seems hard to avoid, but hopefully not as bad as last time.
Closing schools is a good example of transferring risk (of bad publicity) from the state towards individuals.
Child dies of heatstroke at school-------------My child was killed by the authorities, someone must be made to pay !
Child dies of heatstroke at home------------What a sad accident.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
The 2003 death toll was high. France was woefully unprepared, didn't even have extreme heat on their radar as a national risk. The situation today is very different, all significant public sector organisations have plans in place and public awareness is much higher. Identical metrological conditions to 2003 would have far better outcomes today.
Also worth saying this heatwave is forecast to be a lot shorter so whist some local temperature records are likely to be broken, the event as a whole will likely have less impact.
New records set for extreme heat in several European countries.
A red alert, the highest level of heat alert has been issued for several areas of France.
A number of lives are reported lost due to heatstroke.
kenneal - lagger wrote:As the ocean heats up we might not have to wait for the winter for storms in future. We could have our very own hurricane season from July onwards.
Alternatively, the latitude of the UK could naturally lead to a mean temperature more like that of Edmonton AB.
kenneal - lagger wrote:As the ocean heats up we might not have to wait for the winter for storms in future. We could have our very own hurricane season from July onwards.
Alternatively, the latitude of the UK could naturally lead to a mean temperature more like that of Edmonton AB.
That is unlikely because we have a maritime climate and we are governed to a great extent by the temperature of the sea around us. Edmonton has a continental climate without the tempering influence of the sea. In a maritime climate we have the cooling influence of the ocean in the summer and the warming influence in the winter. Should, however, the Gulf Stream stop flowing, as it has done in the past, we could in the UK see much lower temperatures in winter and summer although still not as extreme as a mid continental city.
Without the Gulf Stream we would be more like Vancouver or even Anchorage.
Where I am in southern England, once every five years for maybe a day but the Scottish Highlands get snow every year. I've known one white Christmas in the south in my seventy years. We are probably more likely to have weather like Newfoundland without the Gulf Stream; with the Gulf Stream and more warming, the same as now but more extreme events - hotter and colder, more droughts and more floods.
