chris sheehan

I like to observe the media and look for patterns. Patterns I've noticed about coverage of the "climate": - Weather used to be a two minute affair at the end of the news. - There are more news stories about the weather than ever before. - There are more stories about the weather when it's hot than when it's not - When it's not hot in the UK, especially when it's not hot in summer, there are lots of stories about other places where it's hot - When it's not hot in the UK, especially when it's not hot in summer, there are frequently forecasts of very hot weather to come, even though it often doesn't materalise. - When it's been unusually cold somewhere, like at the moment when it's snowing in Johannesburg for the first time in decades, there is little coverage or if it; or if there is it's described as freak weather - whereas a single hot weather event is nearly always attributed to climate change - Weather maps have changed colour over the years; in the past the land was generally coloured green; now even on typical summer days the land ranges from orange to scarlet. For a given temperature, the colouring is much more alarmist. - Storms in the UK (even relatively minor ones) are now named, drawing yet more attention to the weather being "unusual" - There is regular reference to "unprecedented" records without giving any context about the period over which the record is "unprecedented" - Weather forecasts now often use hyperbole: we have "heat plumes" and "weather bombs" and "beasts from the East" - The above patterns apply to every news provider in the UK, and seem to apply to all Western countries as well judging by the weather coverage I've seen. I expect this pattern of behaviour leading very strongly in one particular direction with no balance or context is just yet another coincidence. 👍 Scorchio! Oh no, I've fallen under the spell now too. 🙄