The weather has always been something of a mystery and extremely fascinating because it is so unpredictable. It can be beautiful but it can be devastating as well.
The weather seems to have an effect on people’s moods and the way we act and feel. The summer always seems to make people feel happy and upbeat, we always associate the summer with certain things, such as, having fun, going to the park to play football with your mates, cut grass and a wonderful atmosphere everywhere that feels uplifting.
The summer is a lot of people’s favourite season because of the beautiful scenery and the motivation it gives people. As lovely as the summer is though there are consequences, august 2003 saw Britain reach the record of 100oc for the first time since records began and all over the country, reports were flooding in of lightning related injuries. France had serious fatalities when on the same day as Britain was baking 50 people died because of dehydration, exhaustion etc.
Something we seem to suffer a lot of in this country is floods and you would think we are used to it but it is still devastating every time. 2007 saw Gloucestershire hit hard with torrential rains for almost 24 hours and water supplies cut off from fear of pollution. There were 4000 homes and 500 business affected and four people were killed.
The weather is something that we all keep a check on whether it is because we do not want to get our hair wet or you do not want to get muddy footprints in the house. As much as sometimes we hate the weather when it is raining, we can’t deny we would be lost without it. It feeds the plants the sunshine helps them grow; we would be miserable all the time without sunlight and let’s face it we love to sunbath in it. Alison knight said, “Me and my mates went to the beach for the day and it was great but after a few hours we all started to feel sick from the heat”.
Rainfall is extremely common in the UK so it is no surprise then that flash floods are the biggest climate threat to this country. Sir David King the governments chief scientist said, “global warming has already altered the climate and the country will have to prepare for extreme weather such as heat waves and “torrential downpours”. The government aim to have reduced carbon emissions by 60 percent near the middle of the century and Sir David King thinks that this is an achievable goal.
Something else we suffer from badly in this country is unseasonable weather. Come Christmas day you open your window and what do you see, blazing sunshine. Many a Christmas day I have taken a walk in the mild sun and had no need for a jacket. You would expect to find a blanket of now, but these days we are more likely to get snow in March or even April as it has been known. The floods all through summer 2007 just highlight this as we barely saw any sun at all. This wasn’t the first time either, Boscastle suffered two wet summers in recent years and it was so bad homes and livelihoods were lost.
Every winter it seems to be getting warmer and warmer and in 2007 scientists even revealed that they saw an influx of new spring life earlier than expected for the year.
