Weather is not just warmer in Northern Ireland but more turbulent

Climate change is the more apt title than global warming for recent differences in weather patterns.

Things are warming, and in line with that this year is likely to be the warmest on record for Northern Ireland (and the rest of the UK). But it is also more than warming - it is turbulence.

Consider that spell in the weekend before Christmas when NI hit almost minus 10 Celsius, a serious freeze by Ulster standards. Then, days later, it was around 12 Celsius, which would be a typical Spring day.

Consider also the oddness of certain recent weather. Anyone who cut their lawn as late as early November will see that it already needed a trim by Christmas.

It is quite common for grass to grow in October, but such growth towards December is not so normal.

NI has always had changeable weather, as have these islands. But it is a temperate changeability, particularly here. We have the least extreme weather in the five parts of these islands, Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Until 2010 only we had never been over 90 degrees in the Fahrenheit scale that older readers remember (32C), or under zero (minus 18 C). That year we got so cold. This year and last, 2021, we came close to breaking 90F. Things are getting warmer but things are getting more haphazard.

Some of these changes might be good for NI long term, as people come to escape the heat.

But extreme weather around the world is not good for this planet.

Man has clearly played a role, through carbon emissions. While Stormont has clearly set an unrealistic target for net zero of 2050, that will put an intolerable burden on agriculture, realistic and tough plans to curb pollution of the atmosphere, while using technology to maintain our lifestyles, are the right way to proceed.