I’ve just read two articles on the BBC News site - one was about the imminent arrival of another winter storm in the US, and the other was about Queenslanders being told to flee the arrival of the strongest cyclone in their history.

This is not long after the worst flooding in Queensland’s history, mudslides in Brazil which claimed hundreds of lives, and a number of other extreme weather events which have made the international headlines. Closer to home, we’ve had the lowest winter temperatures on record - these do not compare to the devastation that has occurred elsewhere, but its an indicator that our weather is changing.

So is this down to climate change? Have we finally done so much damage that the apocalypse is upon us? Or is it just that these things happen, and we’re now paying more attention to it?

Personally I think it’s a combination of both. Talk of global warming and climate change has caused us to pay more attention to news stories about extreme weather. It has caused the media to report more than they would have previously. And the natural progress of technology means that we’re now able to receive and consume more news than ever before.

At the same time, there does seem to be an undeniable change in the climate (both locally and globally). Whether¹ this is down to man-made global warming, or due to natural climate cycles I could not say. All I know is that we can’t rule either out.

I just hope that we get used to these changes sooner rather than later, and learn to cope with them in order to spare lives.