Over the past two weeks, the heavy snowfall in the UK has prompted ridicule of global warming – albeit mostly tongue in cheek. Dr Richard Betts, head of climate impacts at the Met Office Hadley Centre, has reacted with concern that the misuse and misunderstanding of the science behind both the causes and effects of climate change can hamper efforts to tackle climate change. He stresses the importance of not confusing “weather” with “climate” and points out that we should not focus on a single weather event in the UK, rather look to longer-term global trends. Last year was the fifth warmest on record, with the four years with higher global temperatures being 2002, 2003, 2005 and 1998. << Back