What on earth is going on with our weather? Three months’ worth of rain fell
in a few places last week, Britain is drowning under floods of biblical
proportions and nothing like it has been seen since Noah got his sea legs.
In a wave of hysteria, the cry goes out for millions of sandbags, better
drains and more flood defences. And fingers of blame are pointing at global
warming.
But a simple fact has been overlooked: Britain is a wet country. Yes, it comes
as a shock. Over the past few years we’ve become so used to years of
scorching, Mediterranean-like summers, when hosepipe bans were the norm,
vines were bursting with vintage grapes and water diviners were doing big
business. But the truth is that our summers are supposed to be wet: it’s our
climate.
The accoutrements of the British summer holiday were thick pullovers and
waterproofs. You expected to shiver on wet promenades, “Rain stopped play”
was the national mantra and sunblock cream was something for film stars and
models. That is why the August Bank Holiday was shunted to the end of the
month, because the beginning of August was so awful.
Of course, British summers weren’t always as wet as this year’s, but some were
certainly worse. 1912 was the wettest and dullest summer on record, far
ahead of this summer’s downpours. It pretty much rained all summer, reaching
a peak in late August, when a seven-inch downpour in one day in Norfolk left
Norwich completely marooned in a sea of mud and devastation. Even that
deluge is overshadowed by the 11 inches of rain that fell in less than a day
on Dorset in July 1955 – about half of London’s yearly average rainfall. The
longest nonstop rainfall record in the UK was more than 58 hours in London
during June 1903, in a summer when there was an epidemic of lung disease in
farmworkers caused by mouldy hay and grain.
Farther back still were the sodden summers of 1845 to 1850, when jungle-like
humidity and relentless rains triggered the potato blight outbreak that led
to the great Irish potato famine, in which a million people died and another
million emigrated from Ireland.
Rain is only the half of it. The abysmal summer of 1956 was an assault course
of monsoonal rains, big floods, giant hail, houses set ablaze by lightning,
howling gales and miserable cold. Just to rub it in, August was one of the
coldest and wettest on record across Britain.
It is a very human tendency to blame someone for the vagaries of the weather.
A run of bad summers in the 1950s was blamed on nuclear bomb tests, the
rains during the First World War were blamed on artillery going off on the
Western Front and two centuries ago it was the battles of the Napoleonic
Wars that were blamed for upsetting nature. And now it’s global warming.
But climate change was supposed to be making our summers drier, not wetter.
Leaving that aside, even if we accept that the recent downpours are a sign
of global warming, then a single wet summer hardly adds up to any particular
trend. No, it’s far more plausible to explain this latest wet spell as a
natural blip in the climate.
If so, then which politician or minister is going to have the courage to
propose spending billions of pounds on building new river walls,
embankments, ditches and other flood defences? How will we feel about
spending large sums of money on such big projects when next year may bring
another drought – and the inevitable demands for more reservoirs, leak-proof
pipes and desalination plants?
And let’s not forget that an even greater threat comes from the sea. A recent
study reveals that London and the Thames Estuary is subsiding faster than
anyone had estimated; and with sea levels rising relentlessly, the Thames
Barrier is looking increasingly vulnerable. We need to fix that problem
before London disappears under a storm surge like New Orleans.
The hysteria over this summer reveals more about our education. The daily
forecasts and news reports are all facts and no explanation about why the
weather is behaving the way it is. The explanation for the past few days of
drama is that Britain lies in a part of the world that is finely balanced
between wet and dry, warm and cold weather. The dividing line is the jet
stream, a river of wind rushing overhead a few miles high. This summer the
jet stream has been very sluggish and buckled into big loops, leaving
Britain drenched on the wet side of one of those loops. However, on the
other side of the jet stream large parts of Europe are roasting in a
ferocious heatwave that has killed dozens of people and brought wildfires
blazing across Greece.
This European split has happened before. In the summer of 2002, a large swath
of Central Europe was battered by rains that set off huge floods along the
Elbe and Danube, drowning more than 100 people.
But there is another story about this summer that has gone virtually
unnoticed. Despite all the gloom and doom, temperatures are fairly normal
for the time of year. In days gone by, a wet summer would invariably be
cold, even with snow in July and frost in August.
The prize for the most diabolical summer of rain and cold should be awarded to
that of 1816. Not for nothing was it called “the year without summer” – this
time of great storms, massive rains and appalling cold led to the crops
rotting, the price of bread soaring and food riots breaking out. Some
200,000 people died of famine across Europe, which was then followed by a
typhus epidemic.
So, let’s look on the bright side. At least we haven’t got any hosepipe bans –
and the reservoirs are full.
I just cant imagene life wihtout it.
James, hereford, uksofa
The beauty of the anthropogenic CO2 theory of climate change is that any kind of weather at all can be considered a confirming instance of it. This doesn't mean it isn't true. It just means that it's not scientific.
Frank Upton, Solihull,
Just think how much pigeon droppings have been washed off all the old buildings, thereby preserving them for years to come...there's got to be some positives
Pete, Fox Glacier, NZ
I wonder if the Left, who have jumped on the 'global warming' bandwagon as a means of forcing us to accept their petty, mean-minded and anti-humanity policies, would be quite so keen on global warming if they knew that the bandwagon was started by Margaret Thatcher back in the early 80's?
She was looking for reasons to justify her plans for more nuclear power, because she wanted to break the power of the miners' union and the Gulf states by reducing our dependence on coal and oil, so she made money available to research the possibility that the world was heating up because we were producing carbon dioxide.
So global warming, so beloved of the Left, was started by the woman they regard as the Devil incarnate to justify investment in nuclear power, which they also hate with a passion.
It's a funny old world, isn't it?
Chris, Lichfield, UK
THE BIG WET
It is deeply ironic that Britain, a nation with world beating creative industries, should be so unimaginative linguistically, importing most of our more colourful phrases from the New World.
The recent monsoon and the worst-ever floods might have been expected to stimulate the creative juices of our wordsmiths and newspaper editors, but alas all we have to greet us are ponderous sleep-inducing terms like ‘megaflood’
Interestingly, it is not our American cousins who have come up with the pithiest phrase but the Australians with The Big Wet – short, crisp, apposite, and above all, Anglo Saxon in origin.
John, Midhurst, West Sussex
no rain in n.z today joking
matt, new plymouth,
Lighten up people - if it wasn't for climate change we'd still been stuck in an ice age! We are guests in a 'real world' where things happen about which we have no control. Forget the 'Toyland' mentality that demands a Sly and Gobbo behind every unpleasant event.
[Apologies to Enid Blyton]
Mr Plod, Oxford, UK
No climatologist is saying that the excessive rainfaill of the last 3 months is a direct result of atmospheric warming. It is becoming tiresome to hear climate change deniers cynically, and they think humourously, parodying climate change mafia and the environmentalists.
It is true that the amount of rainfall we have had in the last 3 months has no precedent for over 200 years. In fact the last year that that had equivalent rainfall for June and July was the year the Bastille fell in 1789. Since then there have been years with very wet summer months in the UK. And this proves nothing, and no climate scientist suggests otherwise.
It is a fact that the average Atmospheric temperatures are rising. That is jsut a fact! every climate scientist on the planet now believes with a 90% degree of certainty that this is a result of the emission of man-made CO2 during the course of the last 150 years.
This can cause climate change! We are all just going to have to live with this!
Neil Rose, Walton on Thames, UK
Dead right Paul - but do you really think any of this will deter the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Paxman, Humphrys and Snow) from predicting the direst consequences if we don't mend our ways ( not to mention their ritual burning of a scapegoat)?
Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.
Shane Watson (last week's Style) said everything that needs to be said about the fracas between the Queen and Annie Liebovitz. What a brilliant piece of writing. Cheap jibes about Betty Windsor (last week's Culture) may please fans of AA Gill but he has missed the point. The Queen is an elderly lady living in a goldfish bowl not of her making. Her advisers are the ones at fault for subjecting her to the charade, no doubt at the behest of the US government ahead of her visit. I am not particularly a royalist (although I prefer the monarchy to a George Bush) but the Queen is merely doing her duty as her advisers see it, not promoting hereditary principle ltd.
I do agree, however, that the BBC's habit of self flagellation isn't helping anyone, least of all the viewers. Let them get on with their job. Having recently been in Australia and the USA I think we must be thankful that our TV is as good as it is.
Jean Rush, Spalding PE11 1JU, Lincolnshire
To Mrs. Nancy Wrench: Another charity pop concert would be a fantastic idea. I distinctly remember how Live Aid ended world poverty and how Live Earth single- handedly saved the world from the destruction wrought by climate change. Maybe you should call it Wet Aid. Hopefully this ghastly weather will listen to millionaire pop singer's pleas and go and rain on Johnny Foreigner.
AviatorDan, Birmingham,
The guy is an idiot
andrew kay, peterborough,
Agreed, one appalling summer does not prove on its own that climate change is happening. But to choose 1816 as just another climatic fluke reveals the author's ignorance (or cynicism). The "year without a summer" was a world-wide phenomenon leading to crop failures, starvation and disease, and was the result of a volcanic eruption, possibly worse than Krakatoa but less well-researched, filling the atmosphere with dust and cutting off sunlight. It needs the attitude of a Bush to pretend that global warming won't hit us all in one way or another.
John Adams , Péault, France
Dear Sir
We recently wrote our comments to your paper regarding the disaster of the flood victims.
We suggested that we thought it a good idea to start a Charity to help these people in the same way that this Country helps other Countries with their disasters. We allso suggested that perhaps pop singers could organize a benefit concert - say at Wembly or a similar venue where all proceeds go to the victims of the floods.
We would be glad to receive your comments in this matter.
Mrs, Nancy Wrench, Burton Latimer Northants, England
Global warming - just another excuse to raise taxes.
Using a clock as an example, for us to get summer at the same time every year the centre of a clock "being mother earth" would have to arrive at exactly 360 degrees i.e 12 o'clock every time. Now assuming that it is out by 1/2 a pinhead every year, would it not explain why people are saying that it is almost as if the seasons have shifted.
What is there to prove that we evolve 360 degrees spot on every time, because I do not believe that it does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
john wells, Cardiff, wales
This is a crass article. The author should be ashamed and you should remove it from your website; its grossly insensitive.
(I've not been affected by the floods)
Jane, henley on thames,
Please pass on my thanks to Olivia Richtenstein for her article on adult orphans. This explained for me a short, bad patch I hit some 3 months after my mother's death when I really thought I was losing my grip. It passed, but left me echoes of concern which have been alleviated by this item.
Lesley Seaford, Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire
Measured fact: the globe is warming
The reason, measurable fact: gases from human activity just like the ozone depletion which was recognised and treated.
The energy increase and water vapour increase in an atmosphere 1 degree warmer is huge and irrepressible .
For the deniers to use the argument of the impossible - that it cannot be predicted who, at the local level, will experience dought and who flood means it isn't occuring - is pure, self serving, charlatanism.
Such people denied tabacco, asbestos, coal dust, etc etc. when their pockets required it. QED.
R Burton, Bicester, UK
Why are we worried? We are all going to die from cancer now that we smokers are having to stand outside anyway.
Now what can I panic about tomorrow - hmmmmm.
Bill, Hants,
It's a pity this has become an is/isn't climate change issue.
But then that's probably fine by those in power and heading up various quangos who have been saying that it's all 'unprecedented' when it isn't, and 'couldn't be predicted' when it was.
So while this diversionary argument - though a key one, globally - rages, those who should be held to account for why the water that fell (for whatever reason) ended up in a suburban semi's living room. And why my insurance rates go up to compensate.
It's not just the planet that ends up paying for such ineptitude.
Peter Martin, Ross in Wye, UK
Was it global warming 61 years ago when a worse flood struck Britain? C'mon! If we see a cooling is Gore going to demand SUV production?!
Ken Pittman, New Bedford Massachusetts, USA
Thank-you Mr. Simons, a bit of common sense is this apparently perpetual climate of excitable navel gazing. Time perspective does alter the circumstances!
N. Waters, Mississauga, Canada
Why was Greenland so named, because when colonised by Vikings it was green and fertile, why did the Vikings leave, because it got colder and iced over.
Funny that, this warm period is not mentioned in the IPCC report.
Who's to say what is the right weather for the UK, the climate is and always will change. Enjoy today, its the last time the Earth will be in that particular state, it will never be the same again, and that has always been the same.
John, Glasgow, Scotland
notice how its now climate change - so that you can have it any which way you want. to quote charleton heston, "Soylent green is people.!"
RonP, London,
Climate has always changed and always will but many people overlook this basic fact. Britain's current weather is simply due to the more southerly position of the Polar jetstream which usually lies to the north between the Shetlands and Iceland. The jetstreams are influenced by several phenomena, most notably the ocean circulations in the South Atlantic known as 'El Nino and La Nina' which have been particularly active this year. On a larger scale the wet conditions in the UK are extremely localised as here in Spain, just a few hundred miles south, we're having a glorious summer. To describe the wet weather in the UK as 'global' warming to someone here could almost be construed as being a tad parochial!
Andy Jameson, Seville, Spain
From the comments so far it looks like the British are maintaining their notorious "Come Hell or High Water" sense of humor.
At least no one seems to be blaming George Bush directly - yet.
I mean he did order the Heavens to try and drown the entire city of New Orleans a while back. It might be that he's decided to do the same thing to England for getting rid of his good friend Tony Blair.
C. Withrow, Manassas, Virginia, USA
A very insightful piece if I may say so. Man made global warming has been falsified (temperature in the mid and upper atmosphere should increase first before the surface of the earth - precisely the opposite is the case) and does not fit the geological record (ice core data shows CO2 increasing AFTER temperature, not before it). Our current summer may be due to La Niña, although the eco-communists will doubtless blame it on your SUV.
Robinson, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
At long last, a sensible, balanced article. The British have turned into a bunch of screaming neurotics frightened of the sky falling on their heads. Believe me the rain we have had bears no resemblance to monsoonal weather, it is a slight shower.
M. dearden, Pulborough, w. sussex
'Doesnt it say in the Bible that the world would end in the year 2000'
Even scientist cant get things spot on...
doswell, shropshire,
Trillions of cars Rosemary? So about a 1000 for each of us (including our kids!) Guess they must all be run on hot air...
gk, london,
If it's wetter than the average, it's "global warming." If it's dryer than the average, it's "global warming." If it's warmer than the average, it's "global warming." If it's colder than the average, it's "global warming." As someone who's studied human cultures practicing things like mass human sacrifice, and believing in things like a universe governed by a community of gods who eat their own offspring, I have to say that today's "scientific" culture is the most superstitious and irrational of any I'm familiar with. I hope future paleoanthropologists understand that we weren't ALL that mindless, and that the seeds of rationality DID have a strong presence among some in our age.
Erik, Philadelphia, USA
Well, people like Paul Simons can go on being in denial, but for most, the realization has gradually dawned, that we are getting into serious trouble. Even G. W. Bush has stopped denying the impact of climate change. In the long run, these terrible events may be a blessing in disguise. We are being forced to realize that we have to act, collectively and urgently, to prevent the ruination of the entire planet.
henry laycock, kingston, canada
It even rained in Southern California last night for a few minutes. We're right in there with you now....
Our son's off to Essex for the Boy Scout Jamboree later this week... Hopefully you'll have dried out by then.
We wanted to go accompany him as well but put it off due to the absurd exchange rate right now.
John, San Marino, CA
"It's very simple - the earth is sick and has a very high temperature, the clouds are hiding the sun and the rain is trying to cool the earth down." -- Rosemary Canning, London, England
I'm not sure I'd called that a "simple" explanation. How did the clouds and the rain know that they were supposed to help out the earth in this way? This raises all sorts of difficult questions. Are clouds intelligent, and concerned for our safety?
Godfrey Wind, Bath, UK
It's been lovely here......
Lucy, Edinburgh,
For all you climate change "experts" who now want to say that climate change doesn't necessarily always mean warmer/drier summers, it can mean cooler/wetter summers, I ask; Doesn't this nullify climate change? I mean if sometimes it's going to be hotter and drier, and other times cooler and wetter, isn't that JUST WEATHER?!! Now I guess they're going to start talking about "extreme weather" conditions to defend their ideas.
Mr. King, Manchester,
How can you deny global warming and in the same article not have an explanation for the oceans rising and threatening the Thames Barrier?
Paul In New York, New York, NY
It is a pity that Mr. Cameron has had to go to Africa at this trying time.
Bernard Parke, Guildford,
Please reassure me that no-one has been tinkering around with the clouds, seeding , is that what it is called?
Mrs Maggie Snook, wool wareham, Dorset UK
the human made global warming , climate change brigade will find"evidence" that this rainfall prooves their theories.
any type and degree of weather activity can and will be used to further their aims.
resistance is futile, join the mob, worship the computer models.
the end of the world is nigh.
jonathan charles gale, lymington, hampshire
1816 the year without summer was caused by a vulcano erruption in Indonesia I think it was.The news reached England and the rest of Europe 7month after the erruption.
In the US the year was referred to as eighteen hundred and freeze to death.
PLS. pardon my english.
John Lysebraate, Royken, Norway
We simply don't have enough evidence to call this global warming. Nor any of it, come to that. What we see is climate fluctuation, something that has always happened. Sometimes, the weather is OK, sometimes not. Sometimes cold, sometimes hot. Sometimes dry, sometimes wet. The problem is that we are taught to think (!) in short term mode, maybe 20 to 50 years, whereas the real trends and fluctuations are much longer term. Pretty bad news for the doomsday theorists, though.
Malcolm, Bragg Creek, Alberta, Canada
Actually, according to the Met Office, in June 'mean temperatures generally around 1 deg C above average across the UK' . Global warming marches on.
Nice jesting Trevor. You were jesting, weren't you...?
Will Duffay, London,
If it rains, its global warming, if there's a drought it's global warming. If its cold its global warming, if its hot, its global warming. If it snows, its global warming, if there's no snow its global warming. If my dog decides to pee on my neighbour's garden, its global warming.
Heads I win tails you lose.
On a more serious note, we cannot even predict the weather three months hence accurately. In April, we were going to have a record breaking hot summer. Now we are having the wettest summer on record. If we cannot predict the weather three months from now accurately, how do we accurately predict the climate 40 years from now?
Nathan, Surrey,
It would be comforting to believe that global warming is not happening, or not the result of human activity, or not something worth worrying about. But the overwhelming majority of scientists who have looked at the evidence are not in any doubt about it.
In 2005, for instance, the Royal Society (the UK’s most prestigious scientific institution) joined with the national science academies of France, Russia, Germany, the US, Japan, Italy, Canada, Brazil, China and India to issue a statement saying: “The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions.â€
Wishful thinking is for kids and lazy journalists. It's time to wake up to the reality of what is happening. These devastating floods are just a foretaste of what's in store if we fail to do so.
Tom Scott, Falmouth, Cornwall
Rosemary Canning may not realise that due to the very strict regulations regarding car emissions, it is now extremely hard to kill yourself with car exhaust... historically you would die from Carbon Monoxide (which displaces oxygen in the blood)... but modern car exhaust has almost no Carbon Monoxide in it.... There is inevitably Carbon Dioxide, but man made sources of Carbon Dioxide are relatively small compared to natural ones. The climate is changing, as it has done many times in the past, but our contribution to this is probably quite small.
James Lewis, London, England
I suppose - as a typical journalist - you'll own and cherish a whopping great 4*4, and also fly regularly (whilst sneering at trains and buses). Hence, your need to dismiss the possibility that climate change might be the cause of the latest freak weather, even though freak weather (of one sort or another) is becoming the norm.
If you have kids, or grandkids, your sort can expect to be held to account in 20-30 years. In the meantime, you firmly bury your head in the sand.
Jim Millington, London, UK
Poor summers throughout history have been causally linked to volcanic eruptions. I am not aware of a prime suspect in this particular case. Perhaps global warming is making our weather more prone to extremes.That is, if we are to believe that such warming is actually taking place. And if it is, IT CANNOT BE STATED WITH SCIENTIFIC CERTAINTY THAT HUMAN ACTIVITY IS PARTLY OR SOLELY TO BLAME. So credit to The Times for bucking the trend among politicians, the media and large sections of the scientific community of ascribing the blame for all this misery on us taxable humans, with the emphasis, among politicians especially, firmly on the word 'taxable'. And just for the record, Alma Matthews of Beccles, we have plenty of drainage ditches up here in the Lincolnshire Fens; I even have one between my house and the road in front which does a splendid job of keeping my garden from being waterlogged.
Janine Jessop, Spalding, England
Nobody can say for certain whether one bout of freak weather or another is a result of man-made climate change or not, but as scientists have told us time and time again, these events are likely to become more frequent.
Paul Simons must have a very short memory, or selective memory. Not only is this the second bout of flooding this year, there has been severe flooding in the country almost every year for most of this millenium. Is it only because the floods have reached London and the South that he finally bothers to take any notice?
Carlise? Boscastle? York? Do those places ring any bells?
Michael Carter, Bristol, UK
Why do you think the only dry bit in Tewkesbury is the Abbey? 'Cos when they built it they knew the area was liable to flood and built accordingly.
The modern UK Government idea of building on flood plains is just barking mad - unless somebody is making a profit out of it of course.
Bry Barnes, Somerset, Uk
It seems quite a number of Americans have a belief that scientists are always right. A few years ago they thought GW Bush was right, changed their minds quite a bit now though haven't they ?
The author is quite correct, weather in the British Isles, is, and always has been wet, the islands are on the edge of a very stormy Atlantic Ocean, and when the jetstream decides to move south, that's it, rain. Farmers could be digging ditches over the whole of Britain and it wouldn't make hap'orth of difference to the Avon, Severn, and Wye. The good people of Tewksbury wouldn't be any warmer or any drier.
The earth has been much hotter, much colder, and take a look at the sea cliffs along the south coast, the sea has been 40 feet deeper. The difference is we weren't here, and neither was Al Gore. Nobody yet has considered that we could be at the start of sliding seasons where the weather sytems move into another season. No money in a shifting climate is there !!
Phil de Buquet, Newport, England
Guess what people? None of your opinions matter because none of you are scientists and you haven't done any studies and you really don't know jack about climate. Why don't you listen to the opinions of the scientists, the majority of whom say global warming is occurring? Also, the earth's climate doesn't care what you think, either. Why don't you next have a debate about some mathematical dissertation that you don't understand and try to politicize it? That sounds like fun!
Christopher, Bryn Mawr, PA
The Book of Revelations? Streuth!
jimmy m, Wallsend, England
We clearly need a Volcano Tax
tim, London,
The weather, the world, the universe and everything is totally indifferent to the continuation or well-being of the human race. I , for one, am glad I don t have children for conditions generally - not just weather - are going to increasingly, and increasingly quickly ,deteriorate. Try to look outside the bubble that is the currently prosperous, industrialised society.
d h rowlands, cardiff,
i can't help thinking that all this looking to the past to "prove" climate change isn't happening is reminiscent of whistling in the dark to keep away the evil spirits and monsters. it's happening and we're fools to ignore it. remember Whale Skate Island in the Pacific. it no longer exists it's under the ocean.
Phil Barnes, Preston,
Please send your flood waters to California! We're desperate! We've had only 2 inches the entire year. This is the least amount of rainfall in recorded history!
Kim Righetti, Upalnd, Calif. USA
If I lived in Mold, Wales, I'd be desperate for change,
Lawrence, Liverpool , England
its fair to say that we have had a very wet summer: our nanny state subjects however, are getting help with their re-location and other costs: they have been allocated temporary accommodation, but to hear politicians (esp the conservatives) it is this, that and the other to blame.
flooding is being experienced by many other countries: at least we have not had a massive loss of lives.
all the areas involved are very picturesque: surely it is a matter of weighing up risks when u live in an area so close to large bodies of water.
in the health service, we have the medical and other caring politicians promising eternal life.
if we are to be realistic, flooding is a natural consequence of heavy downpours: nothing to be done, but grin and bear it, until the next time.
at least in the uk we have aid from governmental organisations with re-location and help with costs to start up again: the millions of victims of floods in india, south america, and other developing areas are not so lucky!
peepys, london, uk
The neurton flux signal from the sun's core shows the core temperature is cooling.
However in the long term, 10 - 100 years human being must colonise other solar systems if our decendants are to survive.
The sun will evenually execute a periodic stellar nova every 500 years as if turns into a planetary nevula.
All suns of our suns mass do this about 1/2 through their lifetime, that is "about now".
The people left cannot survive.
There are lots of places like that. Try not to be one of them.
I'm too old and sick to worry about.
chris, London, UK
I sympathise with those householders who have been flooded out. However, rivers are there for a reason - to drain the land. When abnormally intense rainfall occurs over a large enough area, then it is predictable (and was predicted in the present case) that these drains will back up in some places (e.g. Tewkesbury, where the Severn and Avon meet). Riverside-dwellers must ask themselves the question 'How often am I prepared to be flooded out?'. If the answer is 'Never', then I suggest that is unrealistic. Any 'reasonable' (i.e. financially bearable by the local and national taxpayer) flood protection scheme must expect to be overwhelmed some time in a long enough period. I say 'protection', because it is impossible to prevent completely. The civil authorities' duty must be to make sure water and power supplies etc. are protected and provide relief for those most affected. Powers to remove traffic from roads and areas and order evacuation, given firm notice, should now be considered.
Tony Richards, Oxford,
Re.Flooding. Should farmers be made to dig ditches and waterways to help clear excess water ?In the 50s this was a common practise with all farmers. Where are the ditches now?
Alma Matthews, Beccles, England
Recent articles quoting alarmists views on climate change merely foment the fervour being created by Al Gore and his ilk, and deliberately use exaggeration as a means of building support for a desired political position. There has been almost no scientific link established between global warming and extreme weather conditions, stated the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its latest report. The recent Floods in the UK are caused by a combination of natural and man-made factors. Natural factors are the variable and extreme weather conditions that have been experienced throughout history, and man-made factors are linked to the reduction in wetlands, flood-plains, natural drainage channels, river training, etc.and development in flood-prone areas. Scientists and geologists who have spent their lives carrying out climate research are now publishing new papers disputing recent climate change hype, the IPCC report and hypothetical computer models.
David Jezeph, Hove, England
OK - if no-one will say the VERY obvious... if all the armchair scientists and theologians commenting above were half as good at predicting weather as they are at explaining it, the good people of Tewksbury (et al) would be a whole lot drier and warmer than they are today.
UK forecast that works - if you can see the far end of the field it's going to rain. If you can't then it's already raining. Works evey time with 100% accuracy. For all else - follow the boy scout motto.
KR, Stockport,
Paul Simons is a very stupid man and he's playing a very dangerous spin game with the future of the world. What happens if you lock yourself in a garage and leave the car engine running? You die! What happens if trillions of cars pollute the environment? It's very simple - the earth is sick and has a very high temperature, the clouds are hiding the sun and the rain is trying to cool the earth down. Unfortunately the car and business industry will not let the earth recover so eventually the earth will die.
Rosemary Canning, London, England
We have had scientists telling us that smoking was good for us, thalidomide was a cure for morning sickness and now that CO2 is the cause of the climate "problems".
Climate change is tautology!
Why is no-one asking why fossil fuels came about? Was perhaps Climate Change?
It's the Oceans that create the most of the worlds CO2 - lets tax the island countries for being surrounded by water - a similar logic used by our leaders....
Jack Frost, Basingstoke, Peoples Republic of England
Yeah global warming aint happening, all because Trevor's Uncle Jim was a very lucky man. It all makes sense now, Trev. Thanks!!!
Grant , Chester,
It's just a lot of rain in the wrong place, the catchment area of the Severn. They always have problems there when it rains a bit harder than usual.
Ed Zuiderwijk, Cambridge, UK
The article also mentions the wet summers of 1903 (London's wettest) and 1956. Funnily enough, there was also a major eruption, of the Santa Maria volcano in Guatemala, on Oct 24th 1902, and a sizeable eruption, also making the top 10 of the 20th century, in Kamchatka, Russia on March 30th 1956. Volcanic events may be an important causal factor for wet and cold summers in the UK. But volcanic activity doesn't help us explain the current wet and warm conditions.
Tim Joslin, Cambridge,
You just can't believe a word these scientists say, on global warming or anything else. My Uncle Jim smoked 30 a day and lived to the age of 79 - and yet we're told that smoking causes cancer! Just goes to show, doesn't it?
Trevor, Billericay, Essex
I blame the Druids. One little chalk drawing of Homer and they decide we should all be flooded. Happy now?
David Sindall, London, GB
For me, an ancient 70 year old, the current floods and bad weather prove finally that 'climate change' - call it what you will -is a load of old nonsense and as I have steadfastly thought from day one just a ruse dreamed up by politicians to raise taxes. They were more imaginative in my day of the window tax.....oops.
victor cowen, Malaga, Spain
Nice article Paul. It is ridiculous how every weather event, hot or cold, wet or dry, is now regarded as 'further evidence of global warming' in the media. Good to see some common sense for a change.
Charlie, Nottingham,
"But climate change was supposed to be making our summers drier, not wetter. "
Not so Mr Simons; many climate models predict warmer _and_ wetter summers for the british isle. Unless the atlantic conveyor closes down, in which case we'll get much colder!
I'm very glad my house isn't on a flood plain though.
paul newbold, sheffield, england
Climatologists have long predicted that climate change will bring more extremes of weather, not specifically warmer drier summers to Britain. So to argue that this summer's weather confounds the global warming theory is completely wrong, it actually supports it. That said, I agree with the article's general point that unusual weather is unusually common and we can't come to any conclusions about its causes too quickly. For this reason we should build infrastructure to cope with both wet and dry summers. It seems that we can cope with neither at the moment.
Strephen Grindle, London, UK,
I am reminded of the quote from the inimitable Australian cricketer Doug Walters when Australia were touring England one summer and many games were impacted by rain.
"The rain in Spain falls mainly in England"
Don, Sydney, Australia
The poor summer of 1912 was also due to volcanic activity. Mt Katmai in Alaska exploded that year.
Terence Hollingworth, Blagnac, France
Of course it's wet, look at the shower we have in government.
Frank, Bournemouth,
One prediction on flooding! The government is now destined to be plagued by the on-coming 2008 drought - because not enough reservoirs have been.
Brian Lewis, Manila, Philippines
Is global warming a taboo or is it just another head in the sand?
Costanzia, La la land,
Climate change.....the 'new religion' of the secular left. So, exactly what is wrong with a climate warming....or cooling? Warming or cooling relative to what reference point? What about all the benefits of a warmer climate? The people who are shouting global warming, are the very same people who were telling us we were plunging into the next 'ice age'....and were suggesting we need to 'warm the planet'.....good job we didn't listen to them then....anymore than we should listen to them now. The real issue is one of power and money. This is the latest vehicle for the liberal left to try and accumulate their next tranch of both. Go and peddle your ridiculous claptrap elswhere. ps. if the same money in question was spent on disease research, it would positively affect the worlds population far more than any issue to do with the climate.
Andrew, Phoenix, AZ
everybody is too afraid to say it but i will .we are at the end the book of revelation is happening ! I am sorry for the good people of england because i really like you,but tihis is happening in england ,china and texas as well as chicago
anthony p, san diego, calif USA
its global warming
Stop living in denial.
change is coming.
Andy hay, mold, Wales
Surf's up!!!!!!!
Bruce L. Northwood, Washington, D.C., USA
The year without a summer, 1816, has a very simple explanation. It was caused by the eruption of the Mt Tambora volcano in Indonesia in 1815 which propelled so much dust and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere it caused worldwide cooling. It also provided the spectacular sunsets captured by Turner in some of his best known paintings.
David Mitchell, Ipswich, UK