(Preface: the following is based on the acceptance of the opinions of an overwhelming number of scientists that man-made climate change is real and is an extremely serious problem which has arisen due to decades of governmental inaction across the world)
I've been meaning to post this for a while, but the news in the past few days about this September being the joint-warmest on record in the UK and the warmest across the world as a whole has finally encouraged me to get on with it. The existential threat that’s presented by the climate crisis, which will require drastic remedial action by governments, businesses and the general public alike to try to avoid a global catastrophe, is very real with unusual and often cataclysmic weather events occurring increasingly frequently.
However, there are still many people here in the UK who don’t fully understand, or don’t sufficiently care about, the dire situation we’re in, and who don’t appreciate the urgency with which action needs to be taken internationally. Polling suggests that as many as 50% of people in the UK hare unwilling to change their behaviour or lifestyle at all to help address the climate emergency. Clearly there’s an ongoing and crucial need to educate people about climate change so that they more quickly come to appreciate the truly desperate position that the planet finds itself in solely because of the actions of humans.
Weather forecasts are seen by everyone frequently and I strongly believe that weather (and news) presenters have a very important role to play in getting vital messages across regarding the climate. However, I feel this is largely proving to be a lost opportunity at present for reasons that I’ll explain below. Just as an aside, someone may correct me but I didn't see any weather presenter give any indication at any point during the month that the UK was heading for its equal warmest September on record. The same has been true for other record-breaking months.
Whilst it’s human nature to a certain extent for people to celebrate warmer temperatures and disparage cooler ones, I feel very much that weather and news presenters should no longer generally go down that road, given the now dire state of the climate crisis; language and tone are extremely important. Unfortunately, things seem to have gone the wrong way in this regard. More than ever, above average temperatures are presented with relish whilst below average temperatures are portrayed apologetically. Warmer temperatures are understated, whilst colder temperatures are exaggerated. How often are below average temperatures called "disappointing", average temperatures described using terms such as "no great shakes" and above average temperatures referred to as something like "not too bad" by presenters?
The terminology has even subtly changed in recent years to emphasize this point. For example, I would say that the word “chilly” is being much more frequently used by weather presenters than before to describe temperatures that are only a little below average. It's reached the stage now where it almost feels like they're itching to be able to use the word in forecasts! Indeed, I’ve seen 16C nonsensically described as “chilly” by weather presenters (I won't name names!) on a number of occasions, but really adjectives used to describe weather should be based on absolute temperatures rather than relative ones, or at least properly matched with an appropriate term for the opposite warm temperature equivalent. Consider the following descriptive match-ups:
Bitter <-> Scorching
Freezing <-> Sweltering
Chilly <-> Hot
Very cold <-> Very warm
Cold <-> Warm
Cool/below average <-> Mild/above average
I’m sure there’s very little in the above which can be regarded as being contentious. Just to continue my point regarding the misuse of “chilly” - a spring/autumn temperature that’s 4 or more degrees above the average would never ever be described as “hot” so, equally, temperatures that are 4 or more degrees below the average should never be described as “chilly”, at least not until they reach mid to low single figures. Professional weather forecasting is completely founded on science, so it ought to be the case that the adjectives used to by presenters to describe temperatures (and indeed weather in general) should also be driven by science and not by subjectivity or colloquialisms.
Moreover, whereas temperatures that are below average are almost always commented upon as such, either directly or obliquely, the opposite isn’t true for above average temperatures, which often pass without comment. Even when a comment is made, the word “mild” is overused. In fact the English language has too few adjectives to describe degrees of mildness/warmth, but that’s a challenge which weather presenters must embrace rather than avoid. If more people are to better appreciate the desperate climate situation, more balance has to be provided in the way temperatures and weather are described and, if anything, greater emphasis placed on the abnormality of consistently warmer than average temperatures and the unusual lack of colder temperatures.
It’s not just about the words and phrases used by presenters though, average temperatures could be shown on weather graphics much more often than they are at present, for clear and obvious comparison. I know that this is done on Good Morning Britain now, which is welcome. More attention should also be drawn to extreme patterns, such as record or near record temperatures for a given month, the lack of rain or increased rainfall as appropriate, comparisons showing an accelerating reduction in seasonal frosts, the impact of abnormal weather on flora and fauna etc etc. Rather than this being part of the normal weather narrative, it still tends to be the case that you have to search for a lot of this rather than it being more in your face as the climate crisis warrants.
To conclude, I firmly believe that weather and news presenters need to consign the colder weather = bad, warmer weather = good mantra to history, and start using language, backed up by the extended use of climatic trend data, supported by easy to understand graphics, which will provide information that more accurately reflects the awful situation that we find ourselves in. Hopefully, weather and news presenters will then play an important role in educating and convincing more people in this country regarding the climate emergency.
Many thanks for taking the trouble to read this if you've got this far!