Shall we talk about the weather?

March 29, 2012

It’s long been recognised us Brits are obsessed with the weather (and traffic).  Little wonder when it’s so unpredictable.  Recently we have broken records day after day with wall to wall sunshine – and it’s only March.  You can bet your bottom dollar that next week, when the majority of schools break up for Easter, children have long days to fill – it will be raining!

Easter falls at different times each year but it’s usually either in March or April.  On occasions it has been so hot during the bank holiday weekend we’ve been paddling at the beach, the next year at the Easter Monday Plumpton races it’s been snowing and the ground too wet and frozen for any horses to run – how can anyone plan what to do?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could, like the Australians, guarantee that if you are arranging a barbeque you know the weather will be sunny and dry. Or a weekend on the ski slopes, in February, if you happen to live in Denver, Colorado you can guarantee there will be plenty of snow.

How does the weather affect other nations (do they complain as we do)?  Well it seems they do and in 2011 they have had a lot to complain about.  Figures released today from Lloyds of London show the company made a loss in 2011 – why – well it has a lot to do with extremes of weather around the world.  Flooding in Australia and Thailand, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, tornadoes sweeping across the US and the earthquake in New Zealand, have all lead to record claims and so to Lloyd’s loss of £516 million in 2011 compared with a pre-tax profit of £2.2bn in 2010.

In the UK will the Lloyds losses give us something more to moan about – you bet (it doesn’t take much!) and when premiums go up on your house or car insurance you know the weather around the world will have had something to do with it.

But, on another note, we should stop moaning about the weather, at least we have food but unless there is a dramatic change to the way we look at food production and consumption in relation to the weather then in the future we will have something to moan about – very real hunger.  Farming needs to intensify sustainability, cut waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions – a ‘climate-smart’ revolution. Read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17495031.