chapmanslade

The period 1700 to 1750 warmed up pretty quickly, and that wasn't down to industrialisation. It would be interesting to plot CO2 levels for the same period. I believe CO2 levels rose steadily throughout the 20th century, temperatures didn't with cooling mid century.

But few meteorologists claim to have in depth knowledge of Climatology - they are two distinct fields of expertise not to be confused. Meteorological events are short term events, Climatological ones long term. Hence one hot Spring does not confirm global warming, and a cold one doesn't disprove it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatology gives a better explanation of the difference

I'm afraid the biggest problem is the association of climate change and climatology with meteorology. We have had a very dry warm spring, but it isn't BECAUSE of global warming. Last year we had a very cold spring and that doesn't disprove global warming. Changes in global temperature will change basic weather patterns that drive our local weather but the interaction is complex, which most people do not have the knowledge or intelligence to understand. I certainly don't, and I am a graduate in a scientific degree, so at least understand scientific reasoning. What annoys me is the global warming band wagon that makes you evil if you drive a big car, or turn the heating up. I do agree with energy efficiency because fossil fuels are a finite resource and alternatives are not sufficiently developed yet, but not because I am worried about the future generations. What is so important about the human race that a good mass extinction event wouldn't be a good idea anyway ? The Earth will be enveloped by the sun eventually and it will get pretty warm then ! I heard somebody say the other day that we should think of our tenure on the earth as merely borrowing it from our children, well all I can say is that everything my son borrows from me comes back buggered.

Fine by me

There is another snag with the radar as it uses individually identified gifs (eg 200611282100 - date and time) and so the Google earth overlay doesn't work any more.