As a nation we Brits are obsessed with the weather. It’s too hot, too cold, too wet, but never ‘just right’.


And, with the media getting apoplectic about the recent ‘big freeze’, causing panic buying and empty supermarket shelves, just what is going on with our weather patterns, climate change and global warming?


Peter Britton tries (and fails) to get to the bottom of the conundrum


“I thought we were experiencing global warming?” I wouldn’t mind betting that we have all said something similar over the past few weeks as the ‘big freeze’ gripped the UK. As always, even though we had fair warning that it was coming, we appeared to be spectacularly unprepared, with local authorities having to ration how much, and where, grit was spread on our roads. Of course, the main arteries had to be


kept open so that essential deliveries could be made to a panic buying public. Meanwhile, the lack of gritting on minor roads and pathways resulted in a Health & Safety fest as winter sports fixtures were cancelled due, not to the condition of the pitches, but to the Torvill and Dean scenario outside the stadiums. So, what exactly is going on? If this winter has been the coldest in thirty years, how on earth (excuse the pun) can we be experiencing global warming or, more accurately, climate change? The first thing to point out is that the weather and our climate are two different things. According to NASA, the difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what the conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere behaves over relatively long periods of time. When talking about climate change, we talk about changes in long-term


averages of daily weather. If summers seem wetter lately, then


the recent climate may have changed. In various parts of the world, some people have even noticed that springtime comes earlier now than it did thirty years ago. An earlier springtime is indicative of a possible change in the climate. Perhaps the largest influence on our planet’s weather and climate is the sun because the amount of sunlight a location receives will determine its climate. Additionally, changes in the sun’s intensity through time, and in the amount of sunlight let into the Earth’s system, can drastically affect our world. The amount of solar energy received at any location on Earth will affect the amount of precipitation and evaporation. This endless process of water transport, from clouds to ground and back again, is called the water cycle. Our atmosphere protects Earth from extreme temperatures and provides the stage for dramatic weather events.


But, hasn’t our climate always changed and, if so, why is global warming so controversial today? While climate change has always


occurred, by mining and burning fossil fuels, thereby sending far too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, many scientists believe that we are greatly accelerating the warming


In the deep mid winter...


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