BBC Extreme Weather Complaint

By Paul Homewood

I have now submitted a complaint to the BBC about the about their report, “A year of extreme weather that challenged billions”.

Your report claims that “climate change has brought extreme weather from hurricanes to month-long droughts”

It then goes on to list a handful of random weather events, but fails to provide any evidence that these are anything other than natural events which happen all the time. Nor any evidence that such events have been getting more frequent or extreme over time.

The report highlights typhoons in the Philipppines and Hurricane Beryl as examples of climate change, stating that it may be increasing their intensity. Yet last year the number of both global Tropical Cyclones (the generic term for typhoons and hurricanes), and the strongest ones were both below average. Nor does the official data show any evidence of them becoming more powerful over time. (See Fig 1).

There is also a section on heatwaves in Asia, which again fails to offer any evidence that these were in any way unusual. There is for instance a reference to a heatwave in Delhi last May & June, yet the official temperature record from the Indian Met Office for those months last year shows temperatures were not unusually high at all there. (See Fig 2)

Another section of your report addresses the drought in the Amazon, but the World Bank Climate Portal states that rainfall there has increased by 5% in the last 30 years: (See Fig 3)https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country-profiles

Whatever the cause of last year’s drought, it is not part of any longer term trend and therefore cannot be “climate-related”.

Finally you highlight floods in Nigeria, Chad and Sudan. It is certainly true that the climate in these countries is now wetter than it was 40 years ago, but the 1970s and 80s marked the Great Sahel Drought across this whole swathe of Africa. Since then rainfall has merely returned to levels seen before 1970. The wetter climate has nothing to do with global warming, as implied. (see Fig 4)

Throughout your report, you base your claims on Weather Attribution Computer Models. However computer models are not evidence of anything, and can be manipulated to provide whatever results are desired. That is why they are widely derided by the wider scientific community.

Unless you can provide factual data to back up your claims, the report should be withdrawn and a correction published.