British Weather: More Lies And Misdirection From The Paid Propagandists At The BBC And Guardian

h/t Mark Hodgson

Predictably, the Imperial College London pseudoscientific outfit, World Weather Attribution (WWA), have rushed out an extreme weather attribution re. the very wet weather which affected Great Britain between October 2023 and March 2024.

Predictably, the BBC and Guardian immediately report on it as being further damning evidence of the impact of the imaginary climate crisis on the British isles, which can only be avoided if we give up our cars and gas boilers and go 100% renewable energy.

They are paid to propagate this false narrative and it is false, as revealed even by reading the actual WWA study which says:

The storminess of the 2023-24 season has been primarily dictated by the position and strength of the jet stream, a band of strong westerly winds high up in the atmosphere driven by temperature differences between the equator and the poles, and tends to be strongest in winter. The position and strength of the jet stream influences how many low-pressure systems are directed towards Ireland and the UK. The strength of the jet stream, and how each individual low-pressure system interacts with it, determines whether these low-pressure systems intensify enough to become Atlantic storms. During the 2023-24 season, the jet stream was stronger than normal, which likely contributed to how strong the storms became. Impacts of individual storms can be worsened when the soils are already very wet due to preceding sustained rainfall or a succession of storms over a similar area, leading to saturation, increased run-off and risk of flooding.

The storm severity index (SSI) was used to define stormy days to study. The SSI considers both the strength of the wind and the area affected. In this analysis we looked at rainfall and wind speed on stormy days identified by the SSI.

Looking at average SSI on storm days, while some studies using other methods suggest an increase in storminess in a future climate, our analysis has shown a decreasing trend. Our results show that average SSI indices as observed this year became about a factor of 2 less likely. The synthesis of the models also shows a negative trend and, when combined with observations, the results indicate that  a stormy season as observed this year is nowadays a factor of about 1.4 less likely due to human induced climate change. 

Even if the models suggested that the storms which did arrive were overall wetter on average than storms which supposedly affected these shores 170 years ago, before the climate crisis (BCC), the models suggest that the storm severity index (SSI) should be decreasing with climate change, not increasing! Also, even more importantly, the authors admit that the reason we were impacted by so many low pressure cyclonic systems is because of the position of the jet stream, which, despite the efforts of climate alarmists to claim otherwise, cannot be linked to global warming. The paid propagandists at the BBC and Guardian give the reader the entirely false impression that it was climate change which was largely responsible for our wet weather and they both completely ignore the finding that SSI should be decreasing. In fact, the Guardian quotes two climate ‘scientists’, one of them from the Met Office, claiming the exact opposite of what WWA’s analysis predicts:

“The seemingly never-ending rainfall this autumn and winter across the UK and Ireland had notable impacts,” said Dr Mark McCarthy, a climate scientist at the UK Met Office and part of the WWA team. “In the future we can expect further increases – that’s why it is so important for us to adapt to our changing climate and become more resilient.”

Dr Sarah Kew, a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and also part of the WWA team, said: “The UK and Ireland face a wetter, damper and mouldier future due to climate change. Until the world reduces emissions to net zero, the climate will continue to warm, and rainfall in the UK and Ireland will continue to get heavier.”

Compare and contrast with what the actual attribution study says. WWA:

Looking at average SSI on storm days, while some studies using other methods suggest an increase in storminess in a future climate, our analysis has shown a decreasing trend. Our results show that average SSI indices as observed this year became about a factor of 2 less likely. The synthesis of the models also shows a negative trend and, when combined with observations, the results indicate that  a stormy season as observed this year is nowadays a factor of about 1.4 less likely due to human induced climate change. 

We are dealing with blatant lies, deception and misdirection, from both the media and from climate ‘scientists’ in order to promote a political agenda which is not supported by science and observations. I’ll leave you with the words of yet another author of the WWA analysis, who also grossly misrepresents the results of her own study in order to spread fear and alarm:

Dr Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-founder of WWA, said: “To put it bluntly, climate change is already making life shittier. Wetter winters are flooding farms, cancelling football matches, overflowing sewage systems and [making] groceries more expensive.

Utter disgrace. Net Zero is making life shittier and shittier, and it’s going to get much worse.