We hate to say we told you so

Via Pauline von Hellerman, the top image is fictional weather forecast for 18th August 2050 which was broadcast on French television in 2014, with the intent to show how bad climate change could be. The bottom image is the weather forecast for yesterday, 22nd June 2026.

Imagine a bag filled with numbered balls representing potential weather outcomes. In the old British climate, most balls had typical temperatures written on them, while almost none read 35°C or 40°C. Climate change doesn’t suddenly “come along” and hand you a brand-new bingo bag every decade or so. Instead, as the years pass, it swaps out the cooler balls for hotter ones. In any given year you can still accidentally pull out a cold, rainy summer, or draw a future extreme temperature well ahead of schedule.

– Jay Springett

Well, indeed. As I said to someone today, at least there's no-one going around now claiming to be a climate change skeptic. Or if they are, they're certifiable.