Scotland and Extreme Weather Events
Scotland’s weather is known around the globe as something of an enigma. It’s a long running joke between Scots that we can see all the seasons in one day. What’s not funny, however, is the long-lasting effect climate change is having on Scotland.
These effects include some we’ve already seen like warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. Intense rainfall and sea levels rising are also due to climate change, though the effects of these vary on local areas. More rainfall means places could flood more often, with high risk of serious flooding from surface waters. Rising sea levels mean an increased risk of flooding from the sea. Fifteen areas of Scotland were given amber alerts from The Met Office in July this year amid heavy lightening and downpours, leaving many roads and trainlines across Scotland submerged.
From the months of November to February temperatures to can drop as low as -20° in some areas. However, in recent years, Scotland has experienced unusually extreme winters. The Met Office labelled Winter 2019 the second wettest winter on record, with only the winter of 1990 having more rainfall. While this is said to be due to the many storms in succession that year (Ciara, Dennis, and Jorge) the effects were devastating, rivers flooded to record highs and as a result many homes and businesses were destroyed.
According to Adaptation Scotland, a climate change programme funded by the Scottish Government, Scotland should expect heavier downpours and coastal flooding in the coming years, in turn disturbing businesses, communities and transport once again.
Climate change is also something considered when building new homes. New homes generally mean more stress on existing drains in residential areas. This paired with the increased rainfall risk means that many new homes and their neighbours are prone to have issues with water management (such as flooding and drought) and weather resistance. Floodline Scotland has a list of steps accessible on their website to check and prepare for flooding in your new home, this can be accessed online.
We should consider climate change when building new homes. Photo by Mark Potterton on Unsplash
On the other hand, many traditional buildings within Scotland are also struggling to withstand extreme weather events. A report written by Historic Environment Scotland, the lead public body to care for Scotland’s historic environment, says “the inherent resilience of these buildings is now being challenged by the continuing impacts of climate change. Decades of poor interventions and a lack of maintenance has left many of these historic structures vulnerable to increasing amounts of rainfall and extremes of wind.”
Climate Ready Clyde (CRC) is a cross-sector initiative funded by 15 member organisations and supported by the Scottish Government to create an action plan for adapting the Glasgow City Region.
James Curran, MBE and current chair of Climate Ready Clyde said: “Every single one of us has a responsibility to protect the planet, if we have the capacity to understand what is happening. It is often said that in Scotland we live a three-planet lifestyle. That is, if everyone in the world lived as we do, then it would take three planets to provide all the provisions and services on which we rely. By definition, this is unsustainable. It is also stated that, through personal choice, we can reduce our own impact down to a two-planet lifestyle. But to get to a sustainable one-planet life then Government must also act.
The lesson is we should all do what we can, although sometimes those personal choices are difficult and more expensive. For that reason, Government must act and must also act to make deeper and more radical societal changes.
“That means one of the most important actions that everyone can take is to demand action from our governments and to follow through with strong and continuing support when they take those actions.
“With higher temperatures under climate change then our weather will become more chaotic and extreme. It means we are likely still to get cold spells and snow, although less often. We will certainly get warmer weather on average, but with some extreme heat waves which can be dangerous to certain vulnerable people. We will certainly see our weather get wetter overall, with more frequent and severe flooding, either from intense downpours or from rivers and sewers overflowing. Sea level will rise further leading to coastal flooding and damage. All this will cause disruption across Scotland, but also the world. This means that supply lines and commodities on which we rely today, are very likely to be disrupted and products become either very expensive or unavailable. It is certain that many millions will have to migrate from places across the globe that are devastated and made uninhabitable by climate change. These people will end up as climate refugees with severe political implications.
“Scotland must continue to play its full part in trying to combat climate change by stripping out oil and gas from our lives, by exploiting our huge reserves of renewable energy and urgently changing the ways we travel and heat our buildings. Additionally, we should seek to lead on adopting a circular economy which minimises extraction of resources from the planet to provide the products we all want. Equally, the world is already committed to a lot of climate change, and we need to adapt – making our transport systems, businesses, and infrastructure much more resilient to the advancing and severe consequences of a changing climate. We need to invest in flood protection, particularly through better land management; we need to green our towns and cities to keep them cooler with green roofs, trees and green routes allowing walking and cycling; we need to rebuild Nature in such a way that plants and animals can flourish, able to migrate as the climate warms, and able to continue providing the services on which we rely.”
Climate Ready Clyde has published a Glasgow City Region climate change adaptation strategy and action plan, which is recognised as a European good example. It identifies 67 risks and opportunities and suggests that around £180M per year should be invested to ensure these risks are addressed. Investing in flood reduction will give a 6x financial return in future years.
Spending now will help future proof our environment.