richie3846

What I find particularly interesting about this fact, is that the setup was nothing special really. Yes we had a settled June, but that's not unusual and has happened before. We've had mediocre July and August, and indeed temperatures this time round were not below average by very much. Early September was the only spell that could truly be classified as exceptional or unusual. So for July to come in 4th seems to boil down to the particular sequence of weather patterns, and timings. A fluke, I guess.

That'll make a great picture for the 'Nature Pic' thread.

Yeah I think it's the trees driving the broader warning area. It does make sense, especially with wet ground in many areas, much wetter than is typical for late September. Trees could more easily be uprooted.

I can't remember polar air being a big feature in past Septembers

It's already been named

Amazing! We enjoyed 61mm in just one of those hours. I've rarely seen rain as intense as last night. It was just a shame that the centre of the intensity was smack bang over the town. There were a number of flooding incidents in residential areas. I hope the number of properties damaged was relatively low. Scrolling some amateur weather stations, a couple in the town recorded over 100mm. Whilst we can't be totally sure of the accuracy, it does seem feasible given the numbers of amateur stations that logged 70mm+.

https://environment.data.gov.uk/flood-monitoring/assets/demo/index.html /Content/images/gaugemap-facebook-share-image.jpg Shoothill GaugeMap WWW.GAUGEMAP.CO.UK GaugeMap is an award winning interactive map with the latest river level, flow and groundwater data from Environment Agency stations in Britain & Ireland. These two websites publish rainfall data from the environment agency sites, and appear to be mostly accurate and reliable. It can be interesting in situations like this with localised heavier downpours.

Around 90mm was clocked up at the environment agency rain gauge near the centre of Swindon. Around 90mm was clocked up at the environment agency rain gauge near the centre of Swindon. Impressive when taking into account our September average is around 60mm

Swindon received the best storm in years last night. Epic thunder and lightning, with local rain measurements between 60 and 100mm. I suspect there may be some flooding, and if memory serves me, our wettest day locally since July 2007.

On the deep dive 29th August, the Met Office mentioned that they weren't expecting a heatwave, as the high pressure was developing over a relatively cool airmass. They were sure about the high pressure, but had no inkling at that stage, that a major heatwave was waiting in the wings. I went back to watch the section again this morning, just to confirm what I thought they said.

I can't blame them really, they'd get shot down in flames if they forecast a heatwave that didn't come off. A number of days before the heatwave, they talked about the heatwave as likely to happen, but there were still enough models showing alternatives to cast some doubt. It might have been on one of their Deep Dives on YouTube if I remember correctly.

Wow

I question if it's fair to put people into a black and white category, such as 'denier'. There were some significant September heatwaves in the late 19th and early 20th century. This one was not very different from those heatwaves in terms of the temperatures achieved. What's different about this one is the length, but is that solely down to the synoptics? The position of the high was very favourable for ideal winds to arrive from warm places. Given the fact that the top temperatures were not in excess of the heatwaves of Septembers yesteryear, can this genuinely be put down to climate change? Is it right to box people off as deniers, if they question the nature of this particular heatwave? The Met Office have already said they will do an attribution study on this particular heatwave. My gut instincts suggest this particular heatwave is not overly influenced by climate change, and more about the specific wind directions we've experienced this past week. In other words, it may have happened anyway.

Well if people trust the lawmakers and media to accurately provide and use the best quality scientific information, free from bias and sensational reporting, and even sensational thinking, then fair enough. I notice people replying to my opinion seem to think I'm having an attack on rigorous science, which I am not. I was referring to people who may not always be in full comprehension of the scientific facts, and often these people have to make a living by telling people what they want to hear.

Lose credibility in your opinion. This is dangerous talk in my opinion, where you state that someone loses credibility because they have a different view to yourself. This is the basis of the very dangerous cancel culture that has become popular. Have a good day.

It doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to consider what impact this bias has, on climate change thinking and policy. This worries me a lot more than the actual climate change itself. Each person's perception of reality, is not actual reality, but a conglomeration of all the information they have taken in, and where their attention has been led. Our version of the truth. So it's inevitable that policymakers are influenced by this ongoing bias, and in my view, is distorting our path forward with a changing climate.

The BBC have convinced themselves that they are not biased, but sadly, a great deal of their output appears to lean heavily towards tabloid reporting such as this, where they omit the facts which don't suit the sensational reporting style. They also over represent more extreme woke and left wing views, and often omit views which are the opposite to this, as they seem to think they are too extreme, but don't consider the extreme left to be extreme. To my mind, this indicates they have lost their ability to judge where the centre ground is, and sadly I've had to abandon them as a source of information, because I don't trust their ability to give balanced and representative accounts of events.

Maybe it's specific councils or owners? I don't see that happening in this local area. I've noticed that in my travels, some councils are doing a better job of environmental care than others. For example grass cutting/not cutting. Some councils seem to be making a token gesture and others are owning it. Swindon is parished, and our parish is directly involved in the green space management of the area. Maybe this makes a difference. Local people are far better tuned in to details, than a larger council.

I live alongside a woodland, and 2 Christmases ago, a large tree, which was often used by kids for rope swinging, suddenly split into two and came crashing down, in 2 directions. Luckily it was 9pm on Christmas Day. If it had been boxing day, I suspect someone would have been killed, as there are almost always people in that area on weekends and holidays. The council came and cut the tree up for access, but they did leave all the logs in the woods, and they are still there now, full of fungi and insects.

I doubt it very much, because if a country became uninhabitable, then other places are likely to be under pressure also. When times get tough, survival instincts will kick in.

Adapt or die, this is nature's way. Us humans aren't immune to this, and if our current lack of flexibility is preventing us from surviving, if the climate changed dramatically, then we'd revert to survival of the fittest instincts, or die. If it came to the crunch, the fittest and most adaptable would be the ones to continue our species. This may sound extreme from our viewpoint of comfort and societal order, but history shows us that each stage of civilisation doesn't last long at all. Tracing history from prehistoric times to now, I'd bet money on this current phase of bounty and comfort, to be a passing blip in the wider story of humanity.

Can you please clarify in simple terms. Are you saying the recent claims regarding record global temperatures, may not be accurate?

They were saying this 10 years ago and it never happened

Amber warnings will be issued at lower thresholds during the summer. Trees can be uprooted much more easily, especially after recent heavy rain. Towing caravans aren't around in the winter, and neither are campers and holiday makers in general, many of these will be in the warning areas trying to enjoy their time away without getting clobbered by a tree or blown into the sea.

Also, may there be issues in conditions where there is a lot of haze, or thin cloud? I understand the old Vs new equipment have wider differences on days where there is passing cloud, in and out many times. I've got an instinct telling me this is not an exact science, and relative rather than absolute accuracy, may be the met office approach with this one. Down the beach in South Wales yesterday, none of our family could agree if the sun was in or out at times . We looked up, could the feel the sun, but there was a haze also. Is that out or in? When does that trigger the equipment? Standard equipment is essential with these sorts of variables. I notice our local amateur weather station of nearly 40 years, simply measures solar radiation and not actual hours.