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tv   Weather World  BBC News  September 2, 2020 1:30am-2:01am BST

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of kenosha — during a brief visit in which he described several nights of violence there as domestic terror. mr trump ignored pleas from local democrat leaders to stay away — amid accusations that the trip was an election stu nt. the president did not visit the family of an unarmed black man, jacob blake, who was shot and paralysed by a white police officer last month — the event which triggered the violence. mr blake's family say they need a president who will unite the country. welcome to bbc news — my name's mike embley. our top stories: less than a fortnight after portugal was taken off the uk's quarantine list, there are fears restrictions president trump flies could be re—imposed by the weekend. to kenosha — to praise it follows a sharp rise the police and condemn in the number of coronavirus cases in parts of the country. the damage to property. portugal is a popular destination for british violent mobs demolished tourists. or damaged at least 25 businesses, burnt down public buildings and threw bricks. these are not acts of peaceful protest but, really, domestic terror. but the family of jacob blake — whose shooting triggered the unrest — chose not to meet the president. now it's time
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they'll be speaking to us live in a few moments. for weather world. we have a special report on the huge challenges faced this time on weather world, by lebanon as it struggles to rebuild after last coronavirus, our climate month's port explosion. and back in class. and the changes to our atmosphere and the air that we breathe that no—one would have thought possible all round the world, millions of children at the start of the year. return to school despite the global pandemic. i'm at the bbc weather centre, where i will be investigating what part weather, climate and the seasons could be playing in the spread of the disease. and i am in bbc weather‘s climate check studio, where i will be reporting on lockdowns and a sudden drop in carbon emissions. and finding out whether there could be any long—lasting impacts for our climate. also on weather world, crisis at the poles. unprecedented heat, and why the earth's extremes are bearing the brunt of global warming. the temperature has hit 38 centigrade in the arctic circle, which is completely unprecedented. and really, it
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doesn't feel normal. and i will show you a quick and easy way to make your own rain gauge, so you can measure the weather where you are. welcome to weather world, and this, the bbc weather centre in london, which produces forecasts which can be seen all around the world. now, like any workplace, the virus has affected the way we work too. more people are working from home. those of us who are here are keeping socially distanced. but alina is over there, she's presenting today. hi, alina. and sarah and i are also keeping our distance because she is in here, our climate check studio. thanks, nick. one of the main stories that we have been covering in our climate check reports is the increasing carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, one of the main drivers of global warning.
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but the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns have led to a dramatic drop in carbon emissions, one that no—one would have thought possible at the start of this year. and of course, that's down to that huge reduction in travel and business. in april, india saw its c02 emissions fall for the first time in a0 years, according to the environmental website carbon brief. and the improvement in air quality there is clear in these pictures taken before and during the lockdown. inevitably, where lockdowns have eased, emissions have risen once again. in fact, in china, in may, co2 emissions surged to above pre—pandemic levels. and despite any falls in carbon emissions injune, the mauna loa observatory in hawaii recorded the highest ever daily concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. a18 parts per million. so, how can that be when multiple sources indicate that we are living through an unrivalled drop in carbon output? well, think of our atmosphere
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a little bit like this bathtub, gradually filling with water. since widespread industrialisation, the taps have been on with a steady flow. the current pandemic has meant that those emission taps have been turned down a little, the bath isn't filling as quickly as before. but crucially, the carbon concentration, the water level, is still rising. and the bath isn't emptying because carbon dioxide stays in our atmosphere for up to 200 years. and those natural carbon sponges, our oceans and plants, can only absorb about 50% of what is produced. joining me now is corinne le quere, professor of climate change science and policy at the university of east anglia. corinne, how significant is this drop in carbon emissions? the drop in carbon emissions itself is the biggest drop we've seen ever, as far as we can tell, on record, so a 17% drop in daily emissions at the peak of the pandemic. but this, even though the drop is really large,
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is very small in terms of how it affects climate change. because it's temporary, and climate change is affected by long—term emissions. and what do you think will be the impact of that drop in emissions on c02 levels in our atmosphere this year? in terms of total emissions, it depends a lot what happens to the rest of the year. but it could be somewhere between 4% and 7%, depending. 4% if we go quickly back to pre—covid levels, and 7% if the confinement measures linger around for the whole of the year over all of the countries around the world. so, this gives you about an idea of the size of the drop this year. will thingsjust go back to the pre—pandemic normal over time? there is a big risk that things go back, things in terms of emissions go back
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to pre—covid levels because the drop in emissions is not structural, in the sense that we still have the same cars, the same roads, the same houses, industry and everything. so, really, nothing has changed except the behaviour. what really needs to happen to reverse this longer—term trend in carbon emissions and c02 in our atmosphere? the governments' incentives, they need to take climate action into account. so, they need to be aligned with the green economy of tomorrow. so, for example, encouraging walking and cycling in cities where that's possible. encouraging car companies to produce only electric cars as quickly as possible. and, of course, making it safe to use public transport again as quickly as possible. because transport is what has changed the most. before the pandemic and that drop in carbon emissions, australia's devastating record bushfires were pumping out millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,
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in what became the country's second hottest summer. second only behind their previous summer. but then, a sudden change — with the arrival of heavy downpours and flooding, as parts of south—east australia went on to have record autumn rainfall. more extreme weather this year injapan, as seasonal rains reached unprecedented levels injuly, with some places seeing over 1,000 millimetres of rain in just one week. the same weather pattern also inundated parts of china and the korean peninsula. in may, amphan became the first super cyclonic storm to form in the bay of bengal in more than 20 years, going on to hit east india and bangladesh. it was followed by the annual monsoon rains, which hit nepal, north—east india and bangladesh hardest, producing some of the worst flooding
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in a decade. in late august, an already record—setting atlantic hurricane season accelerated further, as tropical storm laura powered through the caribbean, joining marco in the gulf of mexico. no m—named storm has ever formed this early. there's been snow where it's rarely seen. here in the iraqi capital baghdad in february. all the more remarkable as it was followed in july by what's thought to be a new all—time record high in the city of 51.8 celsius. but could this place have set a new world heat record? the usa and california's death valley, where in august, the temperature hit 54.1; celsius. if verified, that could be the highest temperature ever reliably recorded on earth. as the searing heatwave
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continued, wildfires broke out in the west of the usa, with california seeing some of the biggest in the state's history. these fires can generate their own weather and winds, including so—called firenadoes from huge pyrocumulonimbus clouds. and as if 2020 hasn't been bad enough, locusts, huge swarms, the worst in decades, devastated crops in east africa — with a link, scientists say, to changing rainfall patterns caused by climate change. earlier on weather world, we heard how changes to the way we live, work and travel, caused by the virus have changed the air and the atmosphere around us, most noticeably with reduced carbon emissions. but what, if any, impact could weather and climate have on the virus? well, i'm able now to talk to doctor rachel lowe, from the london school of
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hygiene and tropical medicine, who has done some research on the seasonal cycle of coronaviruses. rachel, good to talk to you. we were told at the start of this process that heat humidity in the summer, coronavirus will be gone. that's clearly not happened. do we know anything about how weather and climate may be impacting this coronavirus? with this particular new coronavirus, it's a new pathogen in humans. no—one has any previous immunity to the disease, so it's very much driven by the susceptibility of the underlying population. so, any role that warmer or more humid conditions may have on the virus is likely to be modest in comparison with other factors such as not only our immunity, but also government lockdowns and any measures that have since been taken to try and slow the spread. explain to me how viruses might be impacted, though, by climate, by seasons. because, of course, we often hear that the flu season
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is in the colder months. why might that be? how do they operate that way? well, the mechanisms are still not fully understood, we're not sure if it is a direct impact on the virus itself and how that feeds through into infection rates, or if it's just through the way that we behave. during the winter months, we tend to crowd more indoors, which of course is more favourable to the spread of respiratory viruses. so, that may create concern going forward, then, into those winter months. you know, with regular flus that we know about and this coronavirus. absolutely, as we move into the northern hemisphere winter, we will have to be very aware of how cold this winter may be and how that may impact not only this coronavirus, but also all the other pathogens that we have in winter, how this may impact asthma. also, accidents caused by cold weather. because this whole package could potentially overwhelm the emergency services, if we're not well prepared. doctor rachel lowe, thank
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you for talking to us on weather world. thank you. now, some of your weather watcher pictures, starting with these, from the uk's wettest february on record. three named storms hit the uk that month, causing severe flooding. in fact, february was the fifth wettest of any calendar month in records going back to 1862. but the weather made a sudden swing from one extreme to the other in spring, which was not only very dry, but also the uk's sunniest spring, shattering a record that had stood since 19118. and although summer brought the return of some rain, there were also several bursts of extreme heat, including in august, when the temperature exceeded 3a celsius for six consecutive days. still to come on weather world, why fewer planes in the sky could be affecting your weather forecast. so much about the world we live in has changed
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because of coronavirus. but one constant in our climate check reports has been extreme heat, with 2020 being on course to be another one of the hottest years ever recorded. and from what we've seen so far this year, it is the earth's extremes, the poles, which have been bearing the brunt of global temperature rise. injune, in the russian town of verkhoyansk, a temperature of 38 celsius was recorded, the highest temperature ever recorded north of the arctic circle. and this wasn't an isolated event, but part of an ongoing heatwave in the region. a team of climate scientists concluded that climate change made this event about 600 times more likely. the siberian arctic experienced exceptional heat for several months, and data from the eu's climate monitoring service copernicus suggests that june 2020 there has been the hottest on record. it's not unusual to see wildfires north of the arctic circle. last year was the worst
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on record for arctic fires. but in terms of emissions, 2020 has already topped that. the sentinel 2 satellite captured what is thought to be the most northerly fire in recent years. so—called zombie fires can reignite from deep smouldering embers in peatland, releasing not only particulate air pollution, but also more carbon in 18 months than in the past 16 years. higher temperatures near the poles also have huge implications for permafrost. think of permafrost a bit like the world's deep freezer, locking millions of tonnes of carbon and methane within frozen organic matter under the ea rth‘s surface. when permafrost thaws, that matter starts to decompose, a little bit like frozen food would decompose if you take it out of the freezer, and it is this process that releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change globally, so that what happens in the arctic doesn't stay in the arctic. another impact of those higher temperatures has been on sea ice.
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now, this graphic shows sea ice extent in the arctic during july, which was the lowest on satellite record for the month. notice particularly the extensive ice—free waters around the east siberian and kara seas. and mirroring what's happening in the arctic — scientists have found that at the south pole, temperatures are warming at an incredible three times faster than the global rate. and earlier this year, a temperature above 20 celsius was recorded for the first time in antarctica. temperature rise varies a lot across antarctica and the influence of climate change is less discernible than in the arctic. a vast cold ocean and strong winds tend to isolate it from any of these warmer air intrusions and natural climate cycles here may obscure some of the effects of human—induced change. but what is clear is that the ice sheets and ice shelves are losing mass.
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billions of tonnes of ice has been lost from antarctica in recent decades and its future responses to a warming world could have global consequences. so, why is it that the poles are warming so much quicker than other parts of the globe? that is a question i put to professor martin siegert, the co—director of the grantham institute of climate change and environment at imperial college london. there are a number of reasons for why that might be and an obvious one to consider is the change in the amount of snow and ice in the arctic is going down. and as that happens, a very white and reflective surface, which is the snow and ice, which bounces the sun's energy back out into space, is being replaced by a dark surface, which is the land and the ocean, which absorbs the energy from the sun. as warming continues, as the ice and the snow recedes, so we get more absorption, solar radiation than we otherwise would, which causes locally enhanced
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warming in those places. it occurs widespread across the arctic and in some parts of the antarctic. the arctic is a very unusual place. it's a deep ocean, surrounded by several continents. and in parts of those continents, we traditionally do get quite warm weather. and it's not uncommon for places in northern norway to hit the 205 and for the siberian arctic to get into those type of temperatures as well. but what we're seeing in the siberian arctic this summer — and actually, for quite a long time as well — is enhanced warming, at a level that we haven't really seen. it's been in the news that the temperatures hit 28 celsius within the arctic circle, which is completely unprecedented and, really, it doesn't feel normal. the coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on the aviation industry,
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with significantly fewer people travelling by air. this was frankfurt airport, in germany, in april. this visualisation of air traffic over the uk compares march 2019 with march this year, and it reveals a huge reduction in flights, and this has led to an unexpected impact on weather forecasting. you may not know it when you're travelling in them, but these planes, when they're flying, collect weather data. in fact, before covid, 700,000 readings of air temperature, wind speed and wind direction every day. the world meteorological 0rganisation says in europe alone, these readings fell by up to 90%. all this data feeds into the supercomputers that churn out weather forecasts. and although other sources are available — such as satellites and weather balloons — some studies have suggested that since the pandemic began, some aspects of weather forecasts have become less accurate.
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we've got a thermometer and measuring humidity with this gauge... well, that's me from five years ago on weather world, at one of the many weather stations we visited over the years. the way we record weather is mostly digital, automatic, instant, but it wasn't always that way. back in 2017 on weather world, we visited armagh in northern ireland and looked at handwritten manual weather records going back all the way to the end of the 18th century. but as valuable an archive as this is, not all historic weather information is so well loved. many, like these rain records, are tucked away in filing cabinets and need rescuing, and that's exactly what happened earlier this year. the rainfall rescue project asked for volunteers to transfer these into digital spreadsheets. it was the idea of reading university climate scientist professor ed hawkins. so, we had 66,000 pieces of paper which needed transcribing.
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we had images of those paper records and we built a website, we put them all online, and we asked volunteers to help us transcribe those individual observations from the paper records to digital format. we had over 16,000 volunteers step forward. and what i was expecting to take about 16 weeks actually took about 16 days. we transcribed five million weather observations in just 16 days, using the power of those volunteers. and of course, timing was such a big issue, because we know this was just at the start of the uk's lockdown and then suddenly all these people had much more time on their hands to do this. that's right, people had lots more spare time during the lockdown and they wanted to do something useful with that time. so, this project came along at the right time. in the uk, we love talking about the weather, we love learning about the weather, and these historical documents gave people an opportunity to learn more about our weather and then about the history of the people who took these observations.
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tell me why it matters that these observations are available and in a format to be used today. we can see the winters are getting wetter in the uk, and having longer and more detailed records tells us more about where and why it's getting wetter across the country. another reason we want to learn more about the rainfall and spatial patterns and the details is to understand the variations in our weather. we live in a part of the world where the weather is very variable from year to year and month to month, and what we want to learn about is how wet could it be in a particular month, or how dry could it be? 0ur water companies want to know about weather, what risks there are of extensive droughts, so if we get a series of dry winters in a row, that would cause problems for our water supply. and this project is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. ed says there are hundreds of millions of weather records out there waiting to be rescued, and that means many more weather rescuers will be needed in the future.
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well, i've left the climate check studio and am doing what many of you have been doing over recent months, working from home. and for me, like for lots of you, that means juggling parenting and working from home as well. so, making his weather world debut is my younger son, 0scar. hi. today we've been hearing about the importance of keeping accurate rainfall records and we're going to show you how to make your own rain gauge. you can spend lots of money on expensive weather—recording equipment, but what we're going to show you isquick, easy, cheap and a great way to get started on keeping your own weather records. a few bits of equipment we need. right, what we we need? a ruler. a marker. a marker pen. some scissors. jelly that's not frozen yet. jelly, the most important ingredient. but make sure it's still wobbly. yes. plastic bottles. and some sellotape.
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so, you need to find a plastic bottle that's got nice straight sides, without too many dimples, for recording rainfall. the first thing we want to do, if you take the marker pen, 0scar, mark a circle around the top of the bottle about a quarter of the way down from the top. excellent. so, when you have your line around the top of your bottle, you take your scissors. i'll do this bit, shall i? and we cut the top of the bottle off. this is the grown—up part. yes. so, when we've done that, we have the base of our rain gauge and we have a funnel. that sits on the top. excellent. the reason we have a funnel in the top of the rain gauge is so when it rains, it doesn't evaporate, all that moisture inside gets trapped within the rain gauge. the next thing we need, we need a flat bottom on our rain gauge, so we'll pour the jelly. great. so, when you've poured your jelly into your rain gauge, you put that in the fridge for a couple of hours and let it set.
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and this is one we poured earlier. the next thing we do is attach the ruler to the rain gauge, so that's the ruler which starts at the top of the jelly. take the sellotape. .. ..and attach the ruler to the rain gauge. pop it on there. so, put the top back on. you should easily be able to put the funnel on. and there it is, your complete diy rain gauge. when it comes to where you should put this in your garden, it's quite lightweight plastic and it can get blown around quite easily, so we need a steady base. the best thing you can do is find a spot in your garden and dig a hole about three orfour inches deep, then you can put your little rain gauge down into the hole, and it should keep it nice and steady. and don't forget to record how much rainfall has fallen every single day in your own weather record.
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finally, weather you can eat — like this dusting of chocolate snow on a car in switzerland after a fault at a sweet factory. we'll try to cook an egg... and it may well be the hottest place on earth, but this reporter at death valley will have to try harder if he's going to be a weather chef. it's not working! well, that's it for this time on weather world, but there's more to see online. so, for the clips from our previous programmes, go to bbc.co.uk/weatherworld. but from me, goodbye. and it's goodbye from us. don't forget to look out for the bbc weather‘s monthly climate check report. but until the next weather world... goodbye!
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hello there. the first day of september was dry for most of us, but the second day of the month looks a good deal wetter. we will see some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain moving eastward through the day and with that, it will be fairly windy. now, if we look at the recent satellite picture, we can see this area of cloud heading in our direction. this is a frontal system which is going to bring some outbreaks of rain. it's all tied in with an area of low pressure drifting to the north—west the british isles. you can see quite a few white lines, quite a few isobars squashing together on the chart, that it will be fairly windy, and we will see a break of rain pushing from the west toward the east. now, the rain will be moving quite erratically eastwards. it will be quite sporadic, quite on and off in nature, some of it will be pretty heavy, particularly across some parts of southwest scotland —
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where there is the risk of some localised flooding. brisk winds, particularly up towards the far northwest from those of the average speeds, we could see gusts of 45—50 mph for very exposed spots in northwest scotland. it will be a little bit warmer than it has been lately, 15—20 degrees. and it looks as if the rain won't get into east anglia or the southeast of england until quite late on in the day. but we will see some splashes of rain here as we go through wednesday night and into thursday. the outbreaks of rain increasingly becoming confined to england and wales. some clear skies developing, still 1—2 showers for northern ireland and scotland, and it will be milder than some nights we've had recently. so we head into thursday, and our frontal system will still be in place. this front is going to take a little while, i think, to clear away from england and wales. so, we are going to see a lot of cloud here. it could be quite a murky start in places, and there will be some outbreaks of rain moving quite slowly southeastwards. at the further north and west you are, there will be sunnier skies, some showers, some of which will be heavy. another windy day, and another slightly warmer one then we've
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had lately, 17—21 degrees. now, by friday, it looks as if our weather front will still be lingering across southern england in south wales. so further pulses of rain here — but for north wales, northern england, northern ireland and scotland, it's a day of sunny spells and heavy showers, and those temperatures start to come down once again — things turning cooler as we head towards the weekend. for the weekend itself, there will be some showers at time, a fair amount of dry weather, but some rather cool days and some 00:28:30,774 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 fairly chilly nights.
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