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Heatwaves and storms ahead - could you make steps to prepare?

Updated: Mar 7, 2021

The recent dusting of snow may have brightened your day and felt like a welcome change from lockdown same-ness. We know our weather patterns are already changing. Severe weather from climate change will more likely for us involve storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts, from which UK residents are already loosing their lives.


Temperatures soared to 38.7C in Cambridge in 2019, breaking the record for the highest temperature officially recorded in the UK. The top 10 warmest years in the UK have all occurred since 2002. Chance of heat waves are now 30 times more likely. The summer heatwaves of 2019 resulted in almost 900 extra deaths in the UK. [1,2]


And then there's the threat of large areas being prone to flooding. Take a look at this page on https://coastal.climatecentral.org showing a prediction of the areas of the UK that could be below the sea level with current CO2 emissions by 2050.



Australia is already facing regular unbearable and dangerous heat in the summer and an ABC News article linked here offers advice.


Trees: They highlight the role that increasing greenery and particularly trees can have to reduce radiant heat and increase the cooling impact of releasing water vapour into the air (evapotranspiration).

Drainage: They also advise residents to plan for the path of storm water when building and landscaping, storing and slowing the water and harvesting it where possible.



Also - they raise the need to consider using roof materials with lighter colours as well as using photovoltaic panels.




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