Beastly weather and climate catastrophe

Michael Dukes’ Weatherwatch report at the back of Tuesday’s Guardian (20 March) is far too important to be relegated to such a minor position. He is giving us what should be considered front-page news and his few column inches must be expanded into a longer article that fully explains the science and mechanism behind the two unprecedented weather events of the past three weeks, when London was colder than the north pole.

Climate change, bringing Arctic meltdown, has serious global effects which mean very much more than the extinction of polar bears. Climatologists have long been warning of new atmospheric conditions which make freak events the new normal. The latest by Jennifer Francis comes in the April edition of Scientific American, which predicts massive coastal flooding within the next 20 years. In the short term, however, we should be concerned about the return of more “beast” events next month or even in May, when plant growth will be in full swing. Imagine the effect on food production.
Dr Tim Megarry
London

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