018 CLIMATE CHANGE & OUR CORNER OF KENT
What’s causing Kent’s extreme weather swings? A
s a nation, we are obsessed with the weather and how it impacts our lives and daily routines – from getting to work, popping to
the shops and school closures – and its unpredictable nature. Only a few weeks ago in the wake of the Beast from the East, we had beautiful spring sunshine only to be promptly followed by a weekend of
more snow and freezing temperatures. In 2010 The Kent Local Climate
Impacts Profile identified 52 weather events which impacted the county over a 14- year period. In that time, Kent experienced heavy rain and resultant flood events, heat waves, droughts, freezing temperatures and snow as well as multiple storm events. The impact of these events was widespread, putting a financial burden of more than £35 million to county services and the wider Kent community. Significant impacts were also identified for health, the environment – even crime rates – with heat waves, freezing temperatures and snow having the greatest impact. Between late January and early March 2005 alone, 669 schools closed during bad weather, resulting in 206,740 pupil days lost.
Photograph by Melvin Harrison
Changing seasons The Campaign to Protect Rural
THE UK WAS BATTERED BY A POLAR
WEATHER SYSTEM NICKNAMED THE BEAST FROM THE EAST – WHICH IN TURN COLLIDED WITH STORM EMMA
England (CPRE) produced a white paper in 2008, outlining how climate change would affect Kent. It explained that despite the storms, heat waves and freezing temperatures we have experienced, it’s important to remember that weather and climate are two different things: “Single events, such as the 1987 ‘hurricane’ […] or the extreme fl ooding of 2000 and 2001 cannot be taken as evidence of climate change in their own right. However, these
events, and many others, fi t together to build a broader picture of change that can be seen not just across the UK, but also globally.” The effects of global warming are already being seen, with the earlier emergence of species such as the Adonis Blue butterfl y and an observed sea level rise at Sheerness. BBC South East weather presenter, Nina Ridge, explains: “We’re used to changeable weather in this country, but we’re certainly seeing more instances of what we might call ‘extreme weather’. This is when a weather event differs signifi cantly from the average or usual weather pattern, whether over a period of time or in just one day.
© C. Mason
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