Marr: It might be freezing but it's time to worry about searing temperatures this summer

17 January 2023, 18:12

Andrew Marr looks at how the UK needs to prepare for 'El Niño' heatwaves

It's freezing and we're in the depths of winter but it's time to worry about searingly hot temperatures this summer, Andrew Marr has warned.

He said it's no good leaving it until the summer to consider how high temperatures could get.

Speaking at the start of Tuesday's Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC, he said: "It's bitter out there. It's really cold. And yet - trust me on this - it's time to talk about the summer.

"In fact it's exactly the right time, because we still have time to prepare for what the forecasters expect to be some very hot, very dry months later this year.

"This year is forecast to be hotter than last year - and last year was the fifth or sixth hottest year on record. Remember the out of control fires around London, remember the older people with heat stroke, the parched parks and fields, the hosepipe bans.

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"Well this year we have El Nino, a huge weather shift in ocean temperatures and winds over the Pacific, which will heat up the world even more.

"Greenhouse gases have already driven up world temperatures by about 1.2 degrees which has helped cause heatwaves and floods almost everywhere.

"Professor Adam Scaife, who's head of long-range prediction at the Met Office says the next big El Nino could take us over 1.5 degrees in higher temperatures which is to say the least serious enough.

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"But the next thing he says, is what really caught my attention: 'Science can now tell us when these things are coming months ahead. So we really need to use it and be more prepared from... emergency services right down to what crops to plant.'

"In politics we always seem to be looking back - so on this, is anyone really looking ahead about how to deal with water shortages, struggling crops, food production and the plight of older and more vulnerable people if we do indeed get a really hot summer?

"There's no good talking about all of this in July August, too late by then."