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'London underwater, swarms of insects and 40C summers' – expert reveals UK 'chaos'
EXCLUSIVE: Jim Dale, Senior Meteorological Consultant at British Weather Services, has identified five aspects of climate chaos all Brits need to be worried about
Swarms of insects, cities inundated with flood water and too-hot-to-handle summers are just some of the things Brits can expect from the weather mayhem to come.
Jim Dale, Senior Meteorological Consultant at British Weather Services, told the Daily Star there are five aspects of climate chaos we all need to be worried about.
It comes with the release of Mr Dale's new book Surviving Extreme Weather: The Complete Climate Change Preparedness Manual, which he co-authored with American survival expert Mykel Hawke.
Flooding
Mr Dale said: "In the cooler months of the year – winter, early spring, late autumn – sea temperatures being at record levels results in more rainfall, and that results in floods.
"Flooding will be a problem, not just in terms of safety and survival, but also in terms of crops not growing, cattle not being able to get into the fields – we're seeing it now."
Mr Dale said London was among the 10 cities most at risk of becoming "inundated" with flood water. This could happen in the next 50 to 100 years. Cardiff was another city Mr Dale identified, but there are several places right across the UK that will have to battle the impact of rising sea levels in the coming years.
"It won’t happen every single year, but when it does happen it will be an increasing threat as we go on," Mr Dale said. "There will be serious cases."
Drought
We will go from "feast" to "famine" in terms of rain as we move into summer months, according to Mr Dale. This will also have a drastic impact on farming, again possibly creating a "lack of food" with "prices going up".
"Drought is not so much a killer that it would put humans at risk itself," he said. However, it could be dangerous in "combination" with other factors, including...
Extreme heat
Mr Dale put heat at the "top of the list" in terms of what we need to worry about. Back in 2022 the mercury surpassed 40C for the first time ever in the UK, and temperature records continue to be broken "left, right and centre" across the globe.
"Heat, I think, is the one humans are most susceptible to. You don't need many degrees of temperature above a certain point before you start to suffer, before the body starts to deteriorate," Mr Dale said.
Mr Dale reckons "the potential is there" for 40C summers to become a regular occurrence for us. He added: "Not necessarily every month, not even every year, but these things will continue to ramp up."
Wildfires
The scorching summer of 2022 also brought wildfires, most notably in Wennington, London, where 19 houses were destroyed. This is going to become more of a threat as 40C heatwaves become more common.
Mr Dale said: "People who live on the edges or within these zones – New Forest, the Pennines, Black Mountains in Wales, Snowdonia, Scottish mountains – these sorts of areas are very prone to it. Or anywhere that's arable."
'Chaos'
Mr Dale labelled the final thing to look out for as "chaos" – unprecedented events that can't necessarily be foreseen, coming as a result of "global temperature profiles being out of sync".
This could include "sudden mass snow events" in winter following the "dislocation of the polar vortex", or even the "dislocation/complete eradication of the Gulf Stream"
A study published in the journal Nature Communications previously suggested the Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025. And the impact would be catastrophic, with Mr Dale tentatively comparing it to 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow. For us in the UK, it would mean temperatures fall off a cliff.
Mr Dale added "chaos" could also include "mass insect invasions", "mass migration from climate-hit zones" and "diseases" – knock-on effects from climate change elsewhere in the world. "All of these things are joined. What happens on the other side of the globe does affect us," he explained.
Daily Star Sunday
EXCLUSIVE: Jim Dale, Senior Meteorological Consultant at British Weather Services, has identified five aspects of climate chaos all Brits need to be worried about
Swarms of insects, cities inundated with flood water and too-hot-to-handle summers are just some of the things Brits can expect from the weather mayhem to come.
Jim Dale, Senior Meteorological Consultant at British Weather Services, told the Daily Star there are five aspects of climate chaos we all need to be worried about.
It comes with the release of Mr Dale's new book Surviving Extreme Weather: The Complete Climate Change Preparedness Manual, which he co-authored with American survival expert Mykel Hawke.
Flooding
Mr Dale said: "In the cooler months of the year – winter, early spring, late autumn – sea temperatures being at record levels results in more rainfall, and that results in floods.
"Flooding will be a problem, not just in terms of safety and survival, but also in terms of crops not growing, cattle not being able to get into the fields – we're seeing it now."
Mr Dale said London was among the 10 cities most at risk of becoming "inundated" with flood water. This could happen in the next 50 to 100 years. Cardiff was another city Mr Dale identified, but there are several places right across the UK that will have to battle the impact of rising sea levels in the coming years.
"It won’t happen every single year, but when it does happen it will be an increasing threat as we go on," Mr Dale said. "There will be serious cases."
Drought
We will go from "feast" to "famine" in terms of rain as we move into summer months, according to Mr Dale. This will also have a drastic impact on farming, again possibly creating a "lack of food" with "prices going up".
"Drought is not so much a killer that it would put humans at risk itself," he said. However, it could be dangerous in "combination" with other factors, including...
Extreme heat
Mr Dale put heat at the "top of the list" in terms of what we need to worry about. Back in 2022 the mercury surpassed 40C for the first time ever in the UK, and temperature records continue to be broken "left, right and centre" across the globe.
"Heat, I think, is the one humans are most susceptible to. You don't need many degrees of temperature above a certain point before you start to suffer, before the body starts to deteriorate," Mr Dale said.
Mr Dale reckons "the potential is there" for 40C summers to become a regular occurrence for us. He added: "Not necessarily every month, not even every year, but these things will continue to ramp up."
Wildfires
The scorching summer of 2022 also brought wildfires, most notably in Wennington, London, where 19 houses were destroyed. This is going to become more of a threat as 40C heatwaves become more common.
Mr Dale said: "People who live on the edges or within these zones – New Forest, the Pennines, Black Mountains in Wales, Snowdonia, Scottish mountains – these sorts of areas are very prone to it. Or anywhere that's arable."
'Chaos'
Mr Dale labelled the final thing to look out for as "chaos" – unprecedented events that can't necessarily be foreseen, coming as a result of "global temperature profiles being out of sync".
This could include "sudden mass snow events" in winter following the "dislocation of the polar vortex", or even the "dislocation/complete eradication of the Gulf Stream"
A study published in the journal Nature Communications previously suggested the Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025. And the impact would be catastrophic, with Mr Dale tentatively comparing it to 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow. For us in the UK, it would mean temperatures fall off a cliff.
Mr Dale added "chaos" could also include "mass insect invasions", "mass migration from climate-hit zones" and "diseases" – knock-on effects from climate change elsewhere in the world. "All of these things are joined. What happens on the other side of the globe does affect us," he explained.
Daily Star Sunday