Global Weirding

When most people think about global warming, they probably imagine it to be a barely noticeable process where we gradually move to a warmer world somewhere in the distant future.

Surely the most it would mean for us is that we'd have to get a stronger factor suntan cream, and some new summer clothing, or maybe an air-con unit some day?

Things aren't so simple though. You see, climate scientists say all that extra heat in the atmosphere is going to throw the planet's climate off-balance.

They say this will mean unpredictable weather, with a greater number of extreme events, weather records falling with increasing frequency, and wild swings between one extreme and another. Some have called this "Global Weirding" because the weather  just gets plain weird as it tries to find a new equilibrium.

Expect droughts to become more common and go on for longer; more, monsoon-like downpours and flash-flooding; more unseasonal weather; and increasingly nastier hurricanes.

Any of this sound familiar to you? It should do, because things seem to have been getting weird already. Even here in Britain we've had a strange time of it lately: 18 months of below average rainfall (Leading to drought orders and hosepipe bans before this Summer even begins); a heatwave late last September followed by very mild Autumn/Winter temperatures until February, which turned very nasty for 4 weeks (reminiscent of last year's exceptionally cold Winter); followed by one of our sunniest ever March's. A March that finished with a 'heat-wave' (Temperatures hitting 25C), which flipped immediately into widespread snow! What's that all about?

Yes, I know we've always had abnormal weather from time to time but it's getting to the point where the abnormal is becoming normal. If that's the case, then Global Weirding is well and truly with us.


Update: April turned out to be the wettest in over a century with double the average rainfall (At least it's ended the drought for some counties..). It was also cool, with a lower average temperature than March! And, until the last couple of days, May has been equally cold, several degrees below the average. Now we're having a heatwave! 8 months of weirdness, not including the drought. British weather has never been what you'd call reliable but this is ridiculous.