UK NEWS

NOVEMBER: PERFECT FOR A DIP IN THE SEA

Enjoying the warm weather

Friday November 2,2007

By Martyn Brown

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(2)

It was summer in November yesterday as people flocked to the beaches.

With the temperature reaching 65F on the South Coast, it was warm enough for a splash in the sea.

Met Office forecaster Dave Britton said the weather was more like the average for September than November.

A ridge of high pressure from the South-west is the cause of the pleasant conditions, which are expected to last into the weekend.

But we are not likely to beat the 1946 November record of 70F. Temperatures are also expected to dip as we head into next week.

Experts warned yesterday that heatwaves that could claim the lives of thousands of people will occur in Britain every other year.

Climate change will mean that within 30 years, scorching summers where temperatures exceed 100F will become routine, increasing the mortality rate, causing crime to rise and the economy to falter.

The warnings came as the Met Office launched a radical new forecasting system utilising the power of the oceans.

In a grim outlook, experts said that businesses would have to adapt swiftly to climate change or go to the wall.

Traders were told that they needed to be aware of the risk that extreme weather could bring to their dealings and change their image.

Consumers were now on the “tipping point” of viewing non-green businesses in the same way as clothing companies accused of using child labour.

Dr Matt Huddlestone, principal climate change consultant at the Met Office, warned that even the worst case scenario – that temperatures would rise by four degees Centigrade by 2100 – might be underestimating the problem.

“We have seen increases in sea levels that are more than we expected and sea ice is diminishing much quicker than our climate models predicted,” he said. “This summer the North-West Passage in the Arctic opened. We had a hot summer in 2003 with the highest temperature ever recorded here of 38.5C (101.3F).

“We thought this was a one in a thousand year event but it happened again in 2006. By now we probably think it is a one in 250 year event and by 2040 it is likely to be a one in two year event.”

Dr Huddlestone warned the heatwaves were likely to have a severe impact on Britons, adding: “It starts to be a little bit uncomfortable at 38.5C.

“In London the mortality rate for elderly people doubled and across Europe that year there were 30,000 deaths. During Hurricane Katrina, 1,300 lives were lost.

“Warmer summers mean diseases could spread to Britain. We have Bluetongue which was not here a year ago and if that can get here then so can others, though malaria is unlikely.”

Dr Huddlestone said levels of crime also soar during hot spells. “People get fractious and if they are fractious they get violent and crime goes up. You can predict crime levels using temperature,” he said.

He warned companies to take into account the effects of climate change now or risk being sued like tobacco firms who ignored cancer risks.

NOVEMBER, PERFECT FOR A DIP IN THE SEA.

02.11.07, 9:34pm

I'm getting quite sick of all the idiots out there that use every slight change as an excuse to talk shite. It was warmer in November 47, what was the excuse then? I have been in the sea in November before, in Greece, so what?
The tax police are running out of things to nail us for, so they need fresh reasons to tax us, the climate change is one of the new ones.
Global warming has not reached Wigan yet, bring it on, the met office thinks the world stops at Watford and is always wrong with the weather forecast. In 2003 when the high temp, was recorded at Heathrow it was dull and cloudy here, warm but dull.
This January was the warmest since 1916, but that says it's happened before, then we get four months of rain, weather is sporadic.
In 1916 you would have been locked away if you had said global warming even existed, maybe that's the way to go, lock them all away and rely on fir cones again.
It's just a tax grabbing scheme that we will all have to fund.

• Posted by: Mike4224 • Report Comment

YOU HAVE TO BE CONCERNED WHEN CAUTIOUS SCIENTISTS GET SO WORRIED

02.11.07, 7:19am

Politicians are often economical with the truth, but the Met Office has no such agenda, hence the genuine concern we ought to feel at this stark fact based warning.

• Posted by: reduceco2 • Report Comment