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Experts say that weather events like Storm Eunice are not related to climate crisis.

Experts say that weather events like Storm Eunice are not related to climate crisis.

People struggle in the wind as they walk across Westminster Bridge in London

Bob Ward, climate expert, said that people shouldn’t rush to find a connection between storms like Storm Eunice and the larger issue of climate change.

People struggle in the wind as they walk across Westminster Bridge in London
People walk across the Westminster Bridge in London, struggling in the wind.

Storm EuniceThis is quite unusual and many wonder if climate change could explain the worst storm to hit the UK since 1989’s Great Storm.

We all know other freaks. WeatherThese events include heavy rainfall and flooding.

However, Bob Ward (policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy), is a climate change expert and warns that we should not rush to establish this link.

He said: “There is currently no evidence for any trend in the frequency and intensity of windstorms affecting the UK.

“The strength of these windstorms from the North Atlantic are not determined in the same way as tropical storms, which intensify due to high sea surface temperatures.

A vehicle was struck by a tree during Storm Eunice
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Image:

Will Dax/Solent News

“There is clear evidence that heavy rainfall events in the UK are becoming more intense due to climate change.

“But Storm Eunice is a powerful windstorm, and rain is not the main threat.”

The Met Office added: “There is no compelling evidence of climate change impacting trends in maximum wind gusts.”

Scientists agree that storms like Eunice are likely to worsen as a result of climate change.

The German climatologist Friederike Otto says there are two reasons for this: “One, rainfall associated with winter storms has become more intense, and many studies link this to climate change.

“Two, because of sea-level rise, storm surges are higher and more damaging than they would otherwise be.”

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