GWPF: Bad Weather & Bad Policies = Bad Flooding

Updates from the GWPF

It has emerged that the Environment Agency rejected calls to dredge the flood-hit lower reaches of the Thames because of the presence of the endangered mollusc. In a 2010 report, seen by the Mail, they ruled out dredging between Datchet and Staines because the river bed was home to the vulnerable creatures. And even though a public consultation indicated support for de-silting work, the quango said it would be ‘environmentally unacceptable’ due to the ‘high impact on aquatic species’. –Daniel Martin, Daily Mail, 13 February 2014

There is “no evidence” that climate change is leading to more extreme weather, Lord Lawson has said, as he called on the Government to use the floods as a “wake-up call” to stop “littering the countryside” with wind turbines and solar panels. Britain needs to have “cheap and reliable” forms of energy to ensure that the country is “resilent and robust to whatever nature throws at us”, Lord Lawson said.  –Peter Dominiczak, The Daily Telegraph, 13 February 2014

I don’t blame the climate scientists for not knowing. Climate and weather is quite extraordinarily complex and this is a very new form of science. All I blame them for is pretending they know when they don’t. What we ought to focus on is what we’re going to do. I think this is a wake-up call. We need to abandon this crazy and costly policy of spending untold millions on littering the countryside with useless wind turbines and solar panels, and moving from a sensible energy policy of having cheap and reliable forms of energy to a policy of having unreliable and costly energy. Give up that. What we want to focus on – it’s very important – is making sure this country is really resilient and robust to whatever nature throws at us, whether there’s a climate element or not. Flood defences, sea defences – that’s what we want to focus on. –Nigel Lawson, BBC Radio 4, 13 February 2014
BUNGLING weather bosses predicted a drier than usual winter, it has emerged. The Met Office’s staggeringly inaccurate forecast was made at the end of November last year – just a month before the record-breaking deluge began. And the agency gave just a one in seven chance the three following months would “fall into the wettest category”. On Nov 21, its experts predicted: “For the December-January-February period as a whole, there is a slight signal for below-average precipitation”. The calamitous estimate emerged as Downing Street dubbed the devastation caused by the floods as “Biblical”. –Tom Newton Dunn, Political Editor, The Sun, 11 February 2014

 

 

Contingency planners were advised by the Met Office to expect a dry winter less than four weeks before the heaviest rainfall in 250 years. The official guidance to expect “drier than normal” conditions was issued in mid November, just weeks before the onset of the wettest new year period on record. The Met Office report, which claims to use “cutting edge science” to “help contingency planners prepare for and respond to emergencies”, predicted a pattern of high pressure weather systems would lead to dry conditions. It added: “The weakening of the prevailing westerly flow means that the normally wetter western or northwestern parts of the country may see a significant reduction in precipitation compared to average, while the east or southeast may be closer to average.” —ClickGreen News, 11 February 2014

 

 

1) Bad Weather & Bad Policies = Bad Flooding – Daily Mail, 13 February 2014

2) Nigel Lawson: Floods Are A Wake-Up Call To Focus On Resilience – The Daily Telegraph, 13 February 2014

3) Met Office Told Planners To Expect A “Drier Than Normal” Winter – ClickGreen News, 11 February 2014

4) BBC Today Programme: Lawson Vs Hoskins On Flooding & Climate Change – BBC Radio 4, 13 February 2014

5) And Finally: Met Office Forecasts – A Reality Check – The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 10 February 2014