Former weatherman Bill Giles says the UK's 'drab' weather stops Brits from grasping the full extent...
The extent of the crisis is difficult for Britons to understand because weather in the UK is so 'drab', forecaster Bill Giles has said. The retired weather presenter, 83, warned that attitudes towards global warming and greenhouse gas emissions must change to prevent a full-scale emergency in the coming years. A large part of the problem was convincing people there is an issue because of this year's washout summer and an autumn and winter likely to be dominated by winds. 'Here in the UK we might have wondered what the fuss was all about,' Giles told Radio Times. 'Earlier in the year the jet stream moved further south than usual and we have been under the influence of Atlantic low pressure, giving us cooler weather, rain and some very strong wind. This March was the wettest since 1981 and the sixth wettest since 1836. There was even a tornado reported at Hucklow in Derbyshire on the 13th of the month.' He added: 'Part of the problem is convincing people we are running out of time when our weather here in the UK is so often drab. So what is our weather going to be like this autumn and winter? There's very little chance of an Indian summer I'm afraid. The weather looks likely to be dominated by winds coming in from the Atlantic and, with sea temperatures still quite high, will be on the mild side. 'There will be rain at times for all of us.' Giles, pictured, who joined the Met Office in 1957 and led BBC Television's Met Office forecasting team from 1983 to 2000, said the recent scorching temperatures across Europe are 'climate change showing its hand, as I forecast it would do over 30 years ago'. He said: 'Back then, I suggested that by 2030 the London summer climate would be similar to that of the south of France at the turn of this century and that by 2100 it would be similar to the Greece of today.' He added that few people believed him when he made the prediction but stressed that 'it is already happening'. Giles said: 'We all know what needs to be done stop pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to have any chance of preventing global temperatures increasing by more than 1.5C.'