Did I Misquote Julia?

By Paul Homewood

 

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-04-10/met-offices-urgent-inquiry-into-arctic-effect-on-uk-weather/

 

A couple of weeks ago, Julia Slingo, Chief Scientist at the UK Met Office, did an interview for ITV News to discuss recent cold weather in the UK, and whether it had been caused by Arctic warming. In the interview, she says :-

“This is one [Arctic warming ] that, in a sense, is "loading the dice", should I say, more towards colder, drier winters.”

and

“we’re beginning to think that there is something happening; that in a sense our climate is being disrupted by the warming of the Arctic that we have observed very dramatically since 2007.”

 

Unsurprisingly, the interview hit the headlines.

 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/11/climate-change-colder-winter-met-office-chief-scientist-_n_3059116.html

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4881369/Is-the-UK-set-for-Arctic-weather.html

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2307333/Is-UK-heading-Arctic-winters-Met-Office-calls-urgent-meeting-discuss-melting-ice-causing-Britain-freeze.html

 

I was naturally astonished, therefore, to find that a week later the Met issued a report signed off by Slingo, herself, that found

 

There have been some suggestions that the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice, especially during summer, is responsible for this year’s cold spring

This hypothesis remains contentious, however, and there is little evidence from the comparison between the cold spring of 1962 and this year that the Arctic has been a contributory factor in terms of the hypothesis proposed above.

 

The full story is here.

 

Reader David, however, thought I had been most unkind to Slingo, by taking her words out of context. Apparently the words that I had omitted “WE’RE BEGINNING TO THINK” and “IN A SENSE” were intended to inform viewers that she was simply making idle speculation that had no basis in fact.

So, to be totally fair, I invite everybody to see the interview for themselves, on the ITV link at the top, and judge for themselves.

 

Worried that I, along with much of the MSM, had grossly misquoted Slingo, , I took a look at the Met’s press release archive, as I assumed that they would surely have put out a response to this effect.

And what did I find? Nothing, not a sausage! It seems they are perfectly happy with the way Slingo’s interview has been reported. Maybe that was their objective from the start.

Next time she is interviewed about cold weather, instead of coming out with idle, speculative scaremongering, she might like to consider admitting that:-

 

1) The cold winter weather we have experienced in the last few years is not unusual, and no different to much of the 20thC.
2) There could be many possible causes of this, and they really have no idea what has caused it.
3) They have consistently forecast mild winters, so now need to examine why they have got this so badly wrong.