The weather is about to turn harsher for millions. The UK Met Office has issued a stark warning: global temperatures are set to smash records. The culprit is a brewing El Niño event. This is not a distant academic worry. It is a crisis that hits the kitchen table.
Higher global temperatures mean failed harvests. Failed harvests mean higher food prices. For ordinary families already stretched by high inflation this is a body blow. The Met Office predicts a 50% chance of global average temperatures exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. This is the threshold scientists said we must avoid.
But the human cost is already being felt. In East Africa drought has left millions hungry. In Europe heatwaves last summer killed thousands. And for Britain this is not just about warmer summers. Extreme weather threatens floods which devastate homes and livelihoods. My own region the North experienced catastrophic floods a few winters back. The clean up cost millions. The emotional toll is immeasurable.
Trade unions are already raising the alarm. The warning from the Met Office makes action urgent. We need to invest in flood defences. We need to support farmers who face ruin. We need to protect workers who will be exposed to heat stress. The government must treat this as a national emergency. Not just rhetoric but real money.
The World Meteorological Organisation says this El Niño could be 'catastrophic'. They warn of more heatwaves more wildfires more droughts. This is not a future problem. It is now. The cost of inaction is measured in human suffering.
My advice to readers: prepare. Not panic but be ready. Grow some veg. Check your flood risk. Support your local food bank. Because when the weather turns those least able to cope will be hit hardest. And in this cost of living crisis that is most of us.
