Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

i Editor's Letter: The weather is just the weather

 

Stefano Hatfield
Sunday 13 January 2013 20:01 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

I hesitate to write this, I really do. Mostly because the chances are that by the time you read this some of you may have had a light dusting of snow, and for the rest of us? Well, it will be pretty nippy. But, come on people of Britain, what’s happened to us? Once we were noted for our phlegmatic, no-nonsense stiff-upper-lip approach to life, rooted, partly, in our temperate climate.

Now we have become a nation of weather wimps, alarmed at the prospect, and defeated by the impact, of relatively moderate weather fluxes. I don’t mean the floods, whose devastating effects I do not wish to belittle, I mean normal, seasonal weather. I also do not underestimate the difficulties poor weather brings, particularly to elderly people, both practically and financially.

But... A casual glance at a local weather forecast for a country noted for cold winters reveals that Moscow’s weather forecast for today ranges between a “high” of -9C and a low of -15C, Tuesday it’s -16C. It will start snowing on Wednesday morning and continue all through Thursday. It is simply what happens in winter. They will adapt and cope.

I know 2012 was wet, but, for the most part, the weather is just the weather. We must learn to a) deal with extremes better, especially when we have been as forewarned as we have this winter, and b) deal with the commonplace, by which I mean a dusting of snow in winter should not be able to shut airports, rail lines and major roads. We have failed to do so for so long that it has become a national disgrace.

There are two “buts”. The first is significant: it has been so wet that our food crops may have suffered, both in quantity and quality. We will pay at the tills for this. The second “but” is trivial: we appear to have had many extremes except the one I would welcome: a really warm and overly sunny summer. Now that really might be worth a few headlines in the Daily Express.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in