Extreme Weather
Another example this week of what happens when weather (tornado in this case) meets urban area (North London in this case, a street of semi-detached houses in particular). The result was predictable - a rapid redistribution of masonary and double-glazing throughout the area and quite a lot of hysterical press coverage.
The North London Tornado has been cited as yet another example of 'extreme weather Britain' and been linked to climate change, global warming, crop circles and, probably by now, foot and mouth. A few years ago there was an earthquake in Birmingham causing, as Londoners commented, literally tens of pounds worth of damage. Wind of course is different - climatic innit?
But is it all that extreme? Or unusual? Certainly we're living in places now in places we were not before. Might this tornado not happen every few hundred years? Maybe the last time it happened the only witness was a very surprised sheep. This theory is particularly appropriate when it comes to flooding. How, we wonder, can so much damage be caused to so much property by flooding - it's climate change, it's global warming...or is it that you built on a flood plain?
Brits are used to two types of weather - the sort that stops trains and rain. Tornados are a new one on us, hence the lack of storm shelters in cellars and the abundance of garden sheds. The only time we see them is when we watch programmes like 'when nature goes ape-shit crazy!' which, to be fair, should be called 'you built a trailer park where? - Are you out of your fucking mind?'.
Americans of course have 'tornado alley'. Not as you might imagine a narrow strip of tarmac running between buildings and filled with litter, but a large section of the Mid-West populated by people who shit themselves at the sound of a windchime going 'clang'. Why tornadoes should choose to rip through the most christian, least educated states is a puzzle - maybe God's got a sense of humour.
Having flown across the middle bit of the US, I can confirm that there is actually fuck-all there. As a result, when tornados strike, the only damage is to corn, cows and yokels.
As for extreme weather - well, we can hope that this will manifest in snow for Christmas Day. I remember the last time it snowed at Christmas and it was genuinely magical - who needs Christmas cards when the real thing is outside your window. Nothing makes a Christmas day like a good few inches and a satisfying amount of white stuff.
The North London Tornado has been cited as yet another example of 'extreme weather Britain' and been linked to climate change, global warming, crop circles and, probably by now, foot and mouth. A few years ago there was an earthquake in Birmingham causing, as Londoners commented, literally tens of pounds worth of damage. Wind of course is different - climatic innit?
But is it all that extreme? Or unusual? Certainly we're living in places now in places we were not before. Might this tornado not happen every few hundred years? Maybe the last time it happened the only witness was a very surprised sheep. This theory is particularly appropriate when it comes to flooding. How, we wonder, can so much damage be caused to so much property by flooding - it's climate change, it's global warming...or is it that you built on a flood plain?
Brits are used to two types of weather - the sort that stops trains and rain. Tornados are a new one on us, hence the lack of storm shelters in cellars and the abundance of garden sheds. The only time we see them is when we watch programmes like 'when nature goes ape-shit crazy!' which, to be fair, should be called 'you built a trailer park where? - Are you out of your fucking mind?'.
Americans of course have 'tornado alley'. Not as you might imagine a narrow strip of tarmac running between buildings and filled with litter, but a large section of the Mid-West populated by people who shit themselves at the sound of a windchime going 'clang'. Why tornadoes should choose to rip through the most christian, least educated states is a puzzle - maybe God's got a sense of humour.
Having flown across the middle bit of the US, I can confirm that there is actually fuck-all there. As a result, when tornados strike, the only damage is to corn, cows and yokels.
As for extreme weather - well, we can hope that this will manifest in snow for Christmas Day. I remember the last time it snowed at Christmas and it was genuinely magical - who needs Christmas cards when the real thing is outside your window. Nothing makes a Christmas day like a good few inches and a satisfying amount of white stuff.
1 Comments:
I wish that was a possibility here...the snow on Christmas, that is.
Post a Comment
<< Home