Looking out of my front window now there is a "barometer" for the wind - the little tree in our front garden which is currently bending over at near 90 degree angles. In fact I am surprised that this little tree hasn't simply uprooted and flown away with the amount of battering it has received in recent months.
I've been on this planet for nearly 37 years. I've never seen continuous bad weather like this. I did see the '87 storm firsthand and remember the damage that occurred then. That was seen as a freak event never to return, but now we've had 5 or 6 worth of those wind-speeds, plus lots of flooding. I remember being shown a documentary on climate change when I was still at school and maps detailed that the waters would rise and lots of Britain would end up under water. The speculation was that we could become a series of smaller islands.
I asked the older generations - do they remember weather like this? Or their parents/grandparents ever having talked about it? The answer is a "no!" They do remember the odd storm now and again, but nothing as pernicious as this. For example having slowly built up in pressure and then unleashed its fury upon us.
Southampton is relatively lucky. We have lots of shallow hills that date back to the ice age. Most of the water falls into these deeper spots - a few homes and properties have been affected, obviously, but thankfully we've been spared the full tragedy of whole communities being under water.
Last year I read of the sea ice having melted away, some speculate never to return. The planet and the sea temperatures have risen beyond what can sustain ice even during winter. And the winters have been mostly mild here for some time. Perhaps this is why the winds have built up speed? Perhaps they have more room to grow over a bigger ocean? Perhaps the sheer face of the ice once acted like a giant wind-breaker?
Obviously I have no evidence but the paranoid within me now starts to wonder...
