What is going on with the weather?is it global warming?why are we getting floods,in the summer?

Answer 1

well, is it because of global warming... yes it is, but how much can we, as individuals do to help save our planet. if you look at it logically, we are the minority in comparison to the industries littered around the globe. okay we might be able to turn our washing machines to 30 degrees or recycle, which is a respectable act of energy conservation, but how much is this going to prevent global warming? It might be suggested that perhaps the great change which is sought after, needs to come from these industries emitting the gases and increasing the greenhouse effect by thickening the atmosphere's blanket, which inevitably will melt the ice caps and increase the volume of water causing floods. So, long may we continue our good deeds of conservation, but really, the people who need to wake up are the people who run these planet destroying industries, who have the power to prevent the forever expansion of them. And in particular these governments of countries who insist on expanding their GNP and economy of their country and continue to create destruction for our earth, which in time will have the consequences and proof that the factories and eminence of carbon dioxide has created this, and by then might it be too late? I think for a long time now, man has greedily indulged in the earth's resources, but how long is it until man's greed backfires on us.

Answer 2

I remember in the 1950's as a child we used to get long, hot, glorious Summers every year and I was taught at school that the Earth, as it rotates, wobbles slightly. This causes blips in the weather in 40 year cycles so that you get 40 years of gradually warmer weather folowed by 40 years of poor stuff. This covers a period of 80 years and very few people get to experience the whole cycle. I would think that we are now approaching the middle of the poor cycle and that it is quite a natural phenomenon. When people talk about greenhouse gases such as methane produced by cows and sheep affecting the weather I begin to wonder what effect all the release of gases from bombs, shells and guns had in the two World wars and all the flights of fighters and bombers with their exhaust gasses emissions at the same time and why that didn't seem to have the same effect, not to mention all the rockets sent into space and the emissions from volcanic eruptions. When I was young we didn't have the 'Clean Air Act' either, and factory chimneys belched all kinds of foul stuff into the atmosphere. Personally I think that 'Global Warming' has provided a perfect opportunity for scaremongering politicians to try to mould us to their way of thinking by blaming any weather variation on us rather than on the factories in which, no doubt some have an interest, that still produce tons of gases. I am sure that the cycle will yet turn again and give us another 40 years of different weather starting in about 20 years time. Unfortunately I may not be here to see it but you youngsters will. See if I'm not right.

Answer 3

The excessive rainfall central England has been experiencing lately is well within the normal range of historical weather variability. Most people's memories are very short when it comes to the weather and there have in fact been wetter summers than this - and more severe flooding. Another factor to consider is that much building in England since the mid 1960s has been on low-lying land which is prone to flooding during years such as this. Whether in future we decide to continue this practice is currently the subject of much debate but my guess is that the insurance industry may well be an important factor - if people can't get insurance cover or can only do so at significantly increased premiums then property in "at risk" areas may simply be abandoned - or occupied but uninsured for flood damage. Don't forget also that whilst we in England have been shivering in the cold and wading through floodwaters, the Mediterranean has been experiencing considerably higher than normal temperatures this summer - but again these are within the range of historical variability. However, hard data does seem to suggest that Earth's climate is, generally, warming and the result may well be more rain globally. This, incidentally, is good news for the margins of the world's deserts, many areas of which are experiencing a "greening" due to increased precipitation - a little known fact that most news media have not reported. How much of this warming is down to us humans remains very much open to question despite the diet of Global Warming rhetoric we get so much of. A world with more rainfall will almost certainly be a richer, greener one.

Answer 4

It's to do with the jet stream, as several people have mentioned, being too far south. Why is it too far south? Well, because it happens sometimes, and this is an El Nino year, which may well affect the northern hemisphere too. It has happened frequently throughout the years when records have been available, and it is a regular occurence that a dry spring will be followed by a wet summer. Read the article on the link below to explain all the ins and outs. Are you honestly telling me this is the first time it has rained a lot in the summer? I don't think so. This is England after all. Having said that, building on floodplains and increasing the areas of tarmac and impermeable surfaces will increase the detrimental effects of flooding. Flooding is natural. It can be beneficial.

Answer 5

Global Warming is what the present generation of experts reckon is happening. Their memories only go back to the generally cool wet summers in Britain from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Summers since 1989 in UK have been mostly good: especially 2006, the 'experts' therefore blame Global Warming.

Back in the 1970s, experts were old enough to remember the warm summers and cold winters of the 1930s and '40s. They said the disappearance of 'proper' seasons to be replaced by mild winters and cool summers (i.e. hard to tell summer from winter) was due to the 'fact' we were heading into a new ICE AGE!

Answer 6

Its just weather - it changes.

Its not Global Warming, or the affects of thousands of smokers standing outside bars polluting the air with carbon monoxide. Its just nature and weather patterns.

If I hear one more person talk about global warming, i swear I will hit someone. The damage was done long before you or I came along. Whats best now is that we prepare and plan ourself for future. The government should spend more money on defending its tax paying citizens rather than flood the country with freeloaders.

Answer 7

Haven't you notice that we had a mild winter, A dry spring and now we have a wet summer and maybe we have a sunny warm autumm.
I have also noticed a pattern in the weather that we had in the past few years
2001- WET SUMMER
2002-WARM SUMMER
2003-HOT SUMMER
2004-WET SUMMER
2005-WARM SUMMER
2006- HOT SUMMER
2007-WET SUMER
I think really we get the same usual weather pattern every 3 yrs
And its kind of funny that last year we had a drought now we are facing a washout.

Answer 8

Just a reminder that rain makes the UK a green, fertile and beautiful place to live. Obviously, it must be totally devastating for those affected by the excess water, but flooding is a natural and cyclical phenomena that has occurred for thousands of years.

Meanwhile here's to an Indian summer!

Answer 9

What has happened is that the area of high pressure that normally comes and sits over the UK in the summer has not moved far enough North (last seen over the Azores). We have therefore been exposed to a large anticyclone which has brought unprecedented amounts of rainfall. This occurance (the high pressure not arriving) is not hugely unusual (except for the scale) and accounts for most of our poor summers - it is just that the position of this one has been particularly serious....

Answer 10

I think that it is a cycle of weather that we are going through though I do wonder if it has anything to do with recent reports of china attempting to control the weather in time for the olympics. Is it like the butterfly effect ? and what they are doing in china is affecting us