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The Beast from the East was due to climate change - and ‘there will be more’

Forecasters predict more cold weather over the Easter weekend (Pictures: PA)
Forecasters predict more cold weather over the Easter weekend (Pictures: PA)

Extreme weather events such as this month’s ‘Beast from the East’ are caused by climate change, and we should expect more, experts have warned.

A report by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) found that extreme weather events such as droughts and floods have doubled since 1980.

The number of floods has quadrupled since 1980, and doubled since 2004.

Professor Martin Siegert of Imperial College London told the Evening Standard this week that events such as the Beast from the East are ‘in line with’ predicted effects of climate change.

Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Siegert said, ‘The atmosphere is one degree warmer now than it was in 1850 and when you energise the atmosphere you are going to have more extreme events in the UK and in many places.’

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Professor Rob Wilby, Professor of Hydroclimatic Modelling at Loughborough University, said: ‘The risk of extreme weather events is unlikely to follow a neat trend but rather will rise and fall into hazard-rich and poor decades.

‘Keeping a close eye on evolving conditions in the Atlantic is, therefore, a smart thing for Europeans to do.’