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From The Times

July 2, 2007

The future is wet. Summer was in April

Paul Simons and Lewis Smith

The heavy rain that spoilt May and June looks set to stay for the rest of summer, Met Office research suggests.

Cooler sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean prompted by the La Niña weather system, sister to El Niño, have been identified as the likely cause of summer depressions sweeping across Northern Europe.

The finding came as more rain fell over wide parts of Britain yesterday, much of it in regions trying to recover from last week’s floods, which are now estimated to have cost more than £1 billion.

Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, which suffered the worst of last Monday’s rains, escaped comparatively lightly yesterday, but the Midlands and Wales endured another soaking.

Officials at the Environment Agency were hopeful that further flooding had been avoided. They said that river levels were falling despite more rain, adding that the picture was “a lot more healthy”.

They cautioned, however, that the flood waters in Sheffield and Hull, which are still 2 feet (61cm) or more deep in parts, are likely to take the best part of a week to drain away.

Western areas from Cornwall to Scotland bore the brunt of heavy rain over the weekend, with more than an inch falling in places. A break in the relentless downpours is not forecast until Thursday.

The Church of England took a different stance to the Met Office as to cause of the floods — senior bishops said that the severe weather were a consequence of the West’s decision to ignore the Bible.

The church leaders emphasised that while the seven people who died were innocent victims, it was man-made climate change and an “arrogant” world “reaping what we have sown” that had caused the disasters of the past week.

The quantities and spread of the rain yesterday gave emergency workers a respite. Joe Giaconelli, of the Environment Agency, said: “There’s been quite a lot of heavy rain. Fortunately, it hasn’t resulted in any further floods and river levels are falling quite nicely.”

He said that there were still concerns that the rains, mainly in the West, could spread to eastern regions again and delay the clearing-up operation in flooded areas.

Four severe flood warnings remained in force for stretches of the River Don in South Yorkshire, but emergency workers coping with the floods were increasingly optimistic last night that the worst was over.

Troops and lifeboat crews, on standby in case of further heavy rain, were stood down and a spokesman at the South Yorkshire emergency control room said: “It’s certainly not getting any worse. The rains haven’t been quite as bad as they could have been.”

Trading standards officers advised people to beware of cowboy builders and workmen offering same-day repairs at reduced prices.

Flooded householders were advised to obtain three separate quotes from established tradesmen before agreeing to have work done.

Mary Dhonaum, co-ordinator of the National Flood Forum, said that cowboy builders could arrive at people’s doors “wearing spurs and yelling yee-haa”. She advised flood victims to use recommended workmen “even if it means you are displaced for longer”.

Insurers said that the cost of the damage across the country was expected to top £1 billion, with 27,000 homes and 5,000 businesses affected.

While the worst of the flooding may be over, researchers at the Met Office were holding out little hope that the rest of summer would have much in the way of blazing sunshine.

Adam Scaife, at the Met Office, said that researchers had now discovered that La Niña also played a big role in shaping British summers.

Meteorologists have become increasingly convinced of La Niña’s knock-on effect and have detected a growing signal in the Pacific that it is kicking in strongly. Their first clue was finding a mirror-image of Britain’s current weather in the southern hemisphere, where similar bands of depressions have been sweeping 45 to 55 degrees latitude, similar latitudes to Britain and Northern Europe. “To get this sort of symmetry in both hemispheres tells us that there’s something coming from the tropics, and La Niña is by far the biggest suspect,” Dr Scaife said.

Records going back more than 100 years revealed that bouts of La Niña often coincided with summer depressions sweeping across northernmost Europe.“There’s a remarkable similarity over the past four months’ forecasts and our historical analysis. If our forecast is correct, then unusually cloudy, windy conditions may continue this summer.”

La Niña’s effect changes the pattern of rain in the tropics, which ripples out through the atmosphere as giant waves that hit the jet streams in the northern and southern hemispheres. The streams are rivers of wind flowing a few miles above the Earth’s surface and help to drive weather.

Dr R Kent, many recent studies have shown a reduction of up to 47% of fish in our atmosphere compared with studies 5 years ago. Scientific research suggests this due to people not turning off little flashy lights on electrical stuff. For more information and practical advice on climate change visit
www.putthefishbackinouratmosphere.com

M. Fish, Shrewsbury, UK

I think it is due to the lack of fish in the atmosphere. I accept that I may be wrong.

Dr R Kent, Sunderland, UK

Why worry about climate change, 200 years from now there will be no oil/coal/gas - no C02 - there earth will survive, so wiil mand kind; as to the weather nature takes care of that.

Who cuase the last ice age ?

Rob Cox, Sutton Coldfield, West Midss

What REALLY needs to happen if we're to stop irreversible climate change is for everyone to turn off their electric and gas and stop driving their cars. People are in denial. Look at the floods! These are going to become a much more regular event. What goes around comes around and if you pollute your house gets flooded. It's disgusting the fumes coming out of car exhausts, so unnatural. DON'T PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THE DAMAGE THEY'RE CAUSING TO THE EARTH?

Serious, Scarborough, England

They said it was going to be the hottest summer ever! mmm what happend to that then!!!

We cant do anything about the weather so stop moaning just stop concreteing and tarmacing the planet and the water will drain away on its own..........

jill, bromsgrove, uk

Not sure why the Bible should be associated with British weather, it was written in the Middle East. However, last year the forecasters were predicting that the temperature in the UK for 2007 would exceed the record temperature just recorded in 2006. They were also assuring us that we would have warmer, wetter winters, and longer, dryer summers. We had the wet winter, I'm just waiting for the good bit. As I go to North Yorkshire on 13th July, could the meteoroligical office buck its ideas up a bit please.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

thats what you get for boycotting israel,

barry, wales, gloucestershire

jill, bromsgrove, uk

I wonder what the carbon footprint was for those of us that went out ealrier this year to buy and install water buts due to the incorrectly forecast extremly hot and dry summer - there's the increased manafacturing of said items as well!

Neil - again, Reading, England

jill, bromsgrove, uk

Isn't this indicative of religion; a natural phenomenon (though more than likely caused by man's actions) has a "religious" and God fearing spin placed on it.

In times of old they would have been able, and in fact relied upon, leaving such statements singularly implying that "It's the wrath of God, as some of us no longer attend his place of worship and more readily accept and acknowledge gays"! Instead, in the modern times of political correctness and a more informed public, they have to close the statement with fact - this is simply man suffering the laws of nature for his possible disregard of it!

Neil, Reading, England

"Mary Dhonaum, co-ordinator of the National Flood Forum, said that cowboy builders could arrive at peopleâ€™s doors 'wearing spurs and yelling yee-haa'."

Has the temp been having a little fun with your copy or did Mary Dhonaum really say that?...

Michael Hell, London, UK

I find it amazing that the same forecasters who say with absolute certainty that in years to come the sun will be burning us to a frazzle, aren't even able to accurately predict the weather for a couple of weeks ahead. I'm not going to let them tell me when I can or can't fly.

Craig, Liverpool, UK

Come and join us in Moscow, we are having stunning weather!

Alice, Moscow,

Stephen Wilson is wrong; the bishops did not (according to the article) attribute the weather to God, but to man. However, why should I listen to them, any more than I should listen to a meteorologist who tried to instruct me about God?

James McLeod, London,

I think the Catholic church has the march on the CoE for a non-bible based vindictive god type being.

Pat, Oxford,

I just hope the 'global warming' believers read the final two paragraphs. As to the Church of England's view all I will say is that it reminds me of the Dutch Reformed Church's view of the cause of drought in South Africa during the 1960s - apparently it was punishment for the evil of the miniskirt and the possible introduction of television!

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

I'm pretty sure that it is almost certainly a consequence of the West's decision to ignore the Bible....Some one shoul stand up and shout loudly to the senior members of the church, "Get a life"...

Dalai Lama, Lhasa, Free Tibet

So the weather is nothing to do with global warming it's La Nina. Really it's that God just does not like tennis. Or as most intelligent people realise that these weather patterns are common enough in this country over the past hundred years or so. Without a murmur of apology for the "long hot summer" forecast the Met office are now warning of long wet summer. Just what the seaside landladies wanted to hear. I will certainly do my bit to help my environment but I am sick to death of hearing of global warming and climate change. Other countries must do their bit it we want our children to have a good world

Gina Myrie, Edgware, Middlesex

But in January the met office was telling us that the2006 el nino was going to be responsible for record breaking global temps in 2007 - at the time that the el nino had more or less faded away.

Fortunately a 15 year old schoolgirl in Maine, US seemed to read the situation correctly when she suggested that drought-struck Australians should "dust off their umbrellas".

John Finn, Coventry, UK

Oh Gee thanks guys. I don't think I want to hear this. My garden floods every time it rains, and the heavy clay soil doesn't drain. 40+ years of digging straw, compost and manure in have made no difference. We are at the bottom of hills on all sides.
I have had 3 bad falls in the past year. I dislocaled my left elbow and cracked my hip joint. Two days later my right elbow and shoulder. I walked around like a penguin for 4 weeks as my arms were too sore to move unless I had to. In my most recent fall I broke a finger. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is very painful, and I knock it against everything. It's a bit like stubbing a bad toe.
As the Met Office don't seem to be able to correctly forecast the weather a week ahead, I think we should take this news with a big pinch of salt.

Beryl, WINDSOR, England

Drought one summer and constant rain the next. Only in England.

Jon, Maidenhead, England

edwardingle - Do you actually know anything about weather systems?

If you understood what El Nino was, you might be able to comprehend its sister. Do some research into the subject before making stupid remarks.

Here is a good start - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Nina

Chris Herring, London, England

The only surprise is that it has taken so long for the bishops to get in on the act as it should be familiar territory to them. The whole global warming business is conducted along the lines of a revivalist campaign. What is says is "you lot have been enjoying yourselves far too much and unless you all repent and stop having a good time it is going to be very hot for you indeed."

Secularised hell fire and brimstone, courtesy of the modern world's answer to religion. Even the punishment is the same and of course will be delivered to children and children's children. Remarkable how these things don't change.

Keith Roker, Swanage, Dorset

Better pray to the weather gods to turn off the tap!

Bruce Northwood, Washington, D.C., USA

Interesting to see how El Nina is now charged as the culprit for the recent weather, it rather makes a nonsense out of all the man made climate change arguments. When a predictable ocean current in the Pacific [over which we have absolutely no control] can cause such a change in 'normal' weather patterns, how can scientists argue so strongly that ONE factor alone [atmospheric Carbon Dioxide] is the cause of all climate change?
Oh, and to those who argue that any hot/cold/wet spells provide convenient proof that climate change is real please look up the word 'specious'.

Andy, Chester, UK

The meteoroligists and the Church both have it wrong. It rains so much because I lied when I was seventeen!

Fran Healy, Glasgow, UK

The meaning of climate change changes just like the weather. It wasn't long ago when we were told, that because of expected drought we would need to completely re-plant our gardens with mediterranean plants!

So far, apart from April, this year reminds me of the poor summers of the early 1950's when mankind was blamed for the climate change then taking place. We were told that we were heading for a new 'ice age' and atomic bomb testing was responsible.

I subsequently learned that mankind was also responsible for the poor weather endured in the 19th century, when climatologists of the time blamed steam engines!

Sean, Leicester, UK

Thank goodness! at last they say its going to rain all summer.....this means of course it it wil be hot and sunny and we'll have a hosepipe ban. After all it was going to be the worst winter recorded and the hottest summer ever......... wasn't it?

Peter Smith, Teneterden, Kent

According to the Met Office website, June was still 1.5C warmer than the average for 1971-2000.
The world is getting warmer and it is quite impossible to predict what will happen to our climate from one year to the next. A wet summer does not disprove global warming.

Will Duffay, London,

To Stephen

No such thing as an "Islamic bombing" please refrain from using such quotes as these atrocities have nothing to do with Islam.

Irfan , London, UK

Nothing new under the sun...

Dennis Ambler, New Quay, Ceredigion

Back in April, when it was hot, summer was forecast to be a record beaking scorcher. Two months later, we are told it's going to be cold and wet.
Meteorological Office, Bishops, Mystic Meg - take your pick. Personally, I'd place more faith in Meg.

john, exeter, england

Now that the Met Office has declared summer to be unofficially over, I'm sure we can expect a blazing hot July. If I was this rubbish at forecasting I would lose my job but the Met Office seems to get taken the more seriously, the more wrong it is!

Haroon Abbasi, London,

We've banned smoking, can we now ban religion - that way we won't have to listen to any more absurd utterances from the dear old Church on why it's been raining

Gavin Smith, London,

This is excellant news. They have now predicted the wettest winter since records began. So we will be basking in sunshine over the next few weeks. Not sure if everyone knows this but weather can only be predicted 12 hours ahead and even then it is only 80% certain.

dachaidh, rhu, scotland

We have the coldest,the wettest,the hottest and so on,we have only kept weather records for a couple of hundred years or so.Our country used to have a tropical climate,then in the 1700s there were markets on the ice on the river Thames during winter months.do scientists believe nothing changes,we are in a state of flux and change always.Basically they are clueless.Everything is guesstimates

Phil Hudson, Birmingham, England

In contrast to the situation in UK, we are all boiling here in Izmir - aegean city of Turkey - under the influence of unusual boiling hot temperatures. We've been experiencing weather conditions similar to what Dubai - UAE has. It is the question therefore, where all this water vapor goes since the May when the summer practically had started but technically was unexpected. I do believe those churchmen have something that is worthy of our attention.

kunter ilalan, izmir, turkiye

Huh, only a few years ago we were headed for a new ice age and would all die. What will be the next global calamity used as an excuse to lighten our pockets and reduce our freedoms?

Neil Murphy, cromer,

"Just when did the Church of England stop being a religious organisation to 'spend more time on it's politics'?"

Its always been political, it was created as a political artefact by Elizabeth 1. The difference now is that whereas 100 years ago it was 'the Tory Party at prayer' now its the left-liberal establishment ..... doing something.

Neil Murphy, cromer,

Oh come on! How can anyone relly believe that it is because of those who do not read the bible or believe in God that the people died in the floods. It is juyst another way of trying to brainwash people into believing in God.

Emma Browne, Farnborough, England

Yeugh, another summer that's only different from winter cos there are leaves on the trees ...

As for the bishops' comments. Wow, I thought only religious nutters said things like that.

*slaps all those ignorant of what global "warming" actually means with a wet fish*

There's plenty of info about. Go learn. Then you may come back.

starling, Lancaster,

Well, there you have it!
According to - "records going back more than 100 years, bouts of La Nina coincide with summer depressions across northern Europe"
In other words, there is really nothing so unusual about the weather we are experiencing.
And yet, I bet it will all be blamed on Global Warming!
What a Hoot!

Francisco Ribeiro, Cambridge, UK

Hahahahahaha

Its sunny over here

James Cameron, Barcelona,

Its always encouraging to see the CofE taking the moral high ground - presumably above the level of the floodwater. Personally I blame it on those who prayed for an end to the hose-pipe ban. I'm sure the first thought of CofE worshippers would be to offer support to the victims, so once more they are let down by loose-lipped spokesmen who score political points off the back of others' misfortune.

James Todd, Aylesbury, UK

The Church of E really thinks it has a say in weather systems?? It just makes me want to roll my eyes and say......... oh my gawwd.... pardon the pun.

Anyone ever thought it might be down to town planning that brought on the floods? Building up in areas with not enough provision for say a river running really close by to lots of houses, buildings etc?? Global warming causing floods only exists in the minds of us lot in the west. I don't think they say the same in Bangladesh or Calcutta.

Lucy, London, London

Well said Stephen Wilson, i agree with the comments too about the false prophets of "man-made global warming".

ANDREW, HACKNEY, LONDON

it wasn't necessarily 'global-warming' that has been predicted by scientists etc for the last few years, it's climate change. and i think having half of the country under water is somewhat of a change ... saying that weather and climate cycles change naturally, and on much longer time scales in some cases (ice ages, anyone) so it is hard to say exactly what is happening ... man is definitely changing his environment though, and should be very careful in what he does, which is where i agree with these coe comments, we have to think what we are doing to our world

alex, Nottingham, UK

Philip from Ipswich,

You are aware, of course, that 'global warming' is a slightly unfortunately coined phrase. It doesn't mean the whole planet will get warmer, drier weather. Northern Europe is predicted to become slightly warmer on average, but mostly just very, VERY wet as well as chaotic (less longer periods of a certain weather type).

Which is in line with what we're currently seeing.

Erik, The Hague, Netherlands

Ever read Doug Adams' "Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul"? You obviously have a truck driver who is rain god and doesn't know it.

Christine, Columbia, Missouri

Philip

Climate change does not mean "hot and sunny". This is exactly the sort of extreme weather predicted to result from climate change and warmer average temperatures - it is a feature of increased heat energy in the atmosphere, which does not necessarily mean dry, cloudless and hot weather.

Edward

La Nina is the reverse of El Nino, and is part of what is know as the El Nino/Southern Oscillation. It is part of the El Nino cycle, but for some reason, people only remember the El Nino half.

Don't know about the bishops though!

Peter, London, UK

Phil Hudson, Birmingham, England

If there are any other Anglicans out there, doesn't it embarrass you when our leaders make daft statements like that? You'd think we would have learnt not to make pronouncements on purely scientific matters by now, after all that fuss with Galileo and Darwin. Global warming and the weather gets colder - it must be a miracle!

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Ha ha ha ha ha! No stop it...please, stop it.

David P , London, England

"senior bishops said that the severe weather were a consequence of the Westâ€™s decision to ignore the Bible."
WHAT??!
This shows that religion haven't come far from locking up Galileo as a heretic for suggesting the earth circled the sun.
This is also evident that the C of E is so bereft of ideas that they jump onto the latest faddy hockum of climate change.
No wonder the churches are empty.

Lord Shaw, Tingham, uk

we can't be that bad: god only murdered a handful of innocent people. compared to the asian tsunami that's nothing. god killed thousands and thousands of innocent women and children then.

either they were much worse behaved than us or god's a racist.

so thank you to the church of england... by putting this in perspective you have comforted us in our hour of need.

Hugh, London,

Why do people only think that Global Warming is about getting hotter? It's not - it's about disturbed weather patterns and more extreme weather conditions. When are we all going to take responsibility for our actions and when are governments going to take climate change more seriously. I am seriously depressed that our world is being turned upside down. Perhaps God is trying to tell us something?!

Rebecca Twine, London, UK

Its about time the Environment Agency stopped trying to make the sides of the bath higher and concentrated on cleaning out the plug hole!
We cant stop the rain, but the rivers, streams and drainage systems can be better maintained.

Trevor Jeynes, Gloucestershire,

I can't comment on the Bishops' reasoning for their statement, but those who look at the Bible the way Stephen Wilson does need to be more careful in their reasoning. The Bible, properly read as one whole, will indeed be the true guide to understanding the way Britain is suffering its woes. It is not vindictiveness by God, but when a nation goes its own way it will eventually come out of God's protection and then consequences follow. Jesus spoke clearly of times of woe on the world and what He said was fully in accord with the Prophets of the Old Testament. Amos is a good place to start from the Old Testament, a short book that reads like a newspaper report of Britain today. If that is what the Bishops are meaning, I am glad of their prohetic voice in the Nation today.

Clifford Denton, Norwich, UK

Note to all those people who are ignorant enough to belive that 'Global Warming' means the world is suddenly sunny. It doesn't. In fact, increasingly unpredictable extremes of weather, whether hot, cold, wet or otherwise is the true effect of global warming. And one summer drought followed by snow in May, heat in April and floods in May and June definitley fits this picture! So please stop using a bit of a rain as a reason to justify selfish, destructive behaviour. Thank you.

Marianne , London,

Remember D-Day (D-Day weather), Boscastle, Lynmouth, repeated flooding in East Anglia and elsewhere). Heavy rain in June in the UK is quite normal. The only thing that changes is the location.

A calm year without severe weather in June would be the unusual factor.

Brian Vallance, LEFKIMMI, Greece

Vindictive. Hardly. He's so easy going you don't even have to believe in him to be a member of the C of E.

Tim, Lincs,

We know why it rains - God hates Eavis!

Bry Barnes, Somerset, Uk

As if Monday mornings aren't depressing enough, we come in today to read this?! Thanks very much!

Kate, Wilmslow, England

Just when did the Church of England stop being a religious organisation to 'spend more time on it's politics'?

Dr G. Fincham, Norwich, UK

Is this the same Met Office who said we were going to have a really hot summer?

What a waste of money.

CHRIS, BHAM, UK

I seem to recall that it was being confidently predicted we would suffer a drought along with a hot summer this year. Instead it's cold and wet. As usual science proves good at explaining things after the event rather than predicting them. El Nina caused this? Why was it not foreseen then? It's a regular occurrence.

It does beg the question, if weathermen can get this summer so wrong why are their apocalyptic predictions about the future climate treated with so much respect?

Paul Owen, Birmingham, UK

It would have been nice to know in April that that was summer, not tell us after it's finished!

Jafar, Keighley, West Yorks

So much for the hot dry summers and mild wet winters that the scientists were warning us about last year due to global warming.

How is the government going to spin this so that they can tax us for what is really normal weather variation?

Frank, Winchester,

Well in April we were told to brace ourselves for a heatwave this summer. Instead of now saying we are in for a wet one, can the met office not admit that they haven't got a clue. Perhaps man is not in charge of nature as he seems to presume, and has a serious weakness even predicting the outcome of the elements. Maybe we should start to see our own humanity instead of consistently bolstering our own egos in the face of things out of our control. I am beginning to perceive that there is a God after all, and the media has more spin than the government.

Gary, Burnley, England

So much for global bloody warming. The Flat Earth climate change Society were predicting at the end of April that we were in for the hottest year ever.
I have less trust in Weather Forecasters,Al Bore and Carbon tradiing Politicians than I have in Tony Blair dossiers.

philip, Ipswich,

Why don't the weather forecasters just admit that they haven't got a clue? What happened to global warming and to droughts and all the other horrors that we were promised would become the norm?

A sister to El Nino? What next?

As for the Church of England's pronoucement - who said that? Nobody has been attributed as the source. Who are these 'senior bishops'? Are they the same ones that are completely out of touch on so many issues already that they now want to become amateur weather forecasters?

I think the world has gone completely mad. Let;s get back to a sense of reality, for goodness' sake!

edwardingle, chesham,

Of course Church of England bishops are right. How could they be anything else? The change in the weather is their God's punishment on mankind. So is bird flu. The death of Princess Diana was God's punishment too. So was the Islamic bombing of New York and London. Let's face it, the Church of England's God is a pretty vindictive sort of character. What a pity he has little to do with the Jesus Christ of the Gospels.

Stephen Wilson, Rome, Italy