Should we be concrned about climate changes and global warming in our lifetime???
I am sceptical about the “Global Warming” issue. However, climate change is a fact. Whether it is permanent, cyclic, or a passing blip, is academic. It does not take much, in the way of changes in oceanic temperatures around our coast (like in the Gulf Stream) or slight deviations in the direction of ocean currents, to cause major weather changes. Whilst our annual rainfall levels are fairly constant, for whatever reason, the RATE at which the rain is deposited has changed dramatically. Much of the flooding of last year has more to do with rainfall rate, rather than aggregate quantity. To quantify this, even ten years ago rainfall rate of 10mm per hour was quoted to me by the Met Office as, “Tropical Downpour”. Just 15 months ago, in the Portsmouth area, we experienced rainfall at a rate of 60mm per hour! This is approaching the average rainfall rates, experienced in Brazil! Needless to say we had all sorts of reports of flash flooding.
